All The Small Things In Life
by Man In The Shadow Of The Moon
Summary: [COMPLETE] Fresh from fighting her depression, all Rei longs for is for her Knight in shining armour to arrive and sweep her off her feet. Yet is her wish all too literal with the arrival of a humble foreigner to Cherry Hill?
1. Deamons

**All The Small Things in Life.  
By Shadow Of Mars**

_Disclaimer:_

_As is true with about 99.99% of all other Fan Fictions, I do not own any of the Sailor Moon characters, series or anything else to do with it, neither do I own Chad Kroeger, Nickelback, Staind or any of their songs or James Bond (but I would like to be James Bond :D). However, Mark Davison, Sarah Langsdon, Jack Young, Peter Day and Shigeru 39 are my own creations. All events mentioned in this story (apart from the events of September 11th 2001) are entierly ficticious and any similarities are purely coincidental. Enjoy, and don't forget to rate it ^,~._

_All other trademarks mentioned in this piece are copyright of their respective owners_

_Rated PG-13 for strong language and descriptions of a Suicide attempt._

**_Important:_**

**_I've decided to change the story a fair bit from its original plot since I found it too hard to create two separate storylines and intertwine them. I apologise to anyone looking forward to the "Sliding Doors" storyline, but it was just too difficult. However, the plot for the existing chapters remain exactly the same apart from a slight bit of editing in chapter 3._**

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
__Author's note:_

_Yay! The infamous first fanfic! Before I get any die-hard SM fans screaming at me "Raye isn't 20, she's 14!", this is set a few years after the series, just as some of the gang are starting University. I will be using the American names for this story since I can never remember the Japanese names. As a bit of a scene setter for the existing characters, Amy is in Germany studying to become a doctor, Serena lives with Darien and Raye, Lita and Mina are preparing for their first year of University._

_The story focusses on Raye as she has to make the agonizing decision between the two men that she loves. Who are the two guys? Who will she pick? Read on to find out.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

**Chapter I: Deamons.**

_Exterior. Tokyo Intenational Airport, terminal 3 taxi rank - 17th September 2002, 9:40 am._

"Beautiful day..."  
The sky was ocean blue and the sun shone with an almost blinding light. It was a warm September day, one which really made you wonder how magnificent nature was even in a city as vastly built-up as Tokyo.

Mark Davison had just flown to Tokyo from Heathrow airport, London, to start a new life in the bustling metropolis. He was fairly tall, with reasonably short-cut black hair. He had shrewd brown eyes with a skinny nose and was proudly sporting the royal-blue shirt of his favourite soccer team, Everton, which complimented his white trousers.

After loading his many bags into the back of the cab, he squeezed himself into the seat, looking for room to breathe amongst his luggage.

"Where to, mac?" Asked the taxi driver.  
"Cherry Hill please. Anywhere near the Hikawa shrine." Mark spoke in broken Japanese. He had only been learning the language for three years and was very good, but not fluent. He had forgotten the name of the apartment block where he was going to stay, but had in his pocket a photo of a beautiful shrine which his apartment overlooked. Written on the back was "Apt. 211. - Cherry Hill. Opposite Hikawa shrine."

"So, where d'ya come from exactly?" Asked the driver politely.  
"Oh, originally from Liverpool, but I moved down to Southampton about ten years ago." Replied Mark. "I've always had a love of Japan, so I decided to come here to make a living. I'm hoping to get degrees in Computer Science and Music at south Tokyo University."  
"Tokyo U., eh? I've heard many modern composers today studied at Tokyo U." Said the driver with a sudden interest.  
"Yeah." Mark answered with a smile on his face. "They've also got one of the world's most advanced computer suites, and are currently making a new, all-powerful programming language We might even be able to test it out!"  
"Well good luck to you, then. All that computer jargon flies right over my head." Replied the driver. "Speaking of the Hikawa shrine, there's a young woman who lives there. Her name's Raye, and she's one helluva brilliant singer. She usually puts on a concert every autumn - I think it's in its sixth year this autumn. She was only 14 when she organised the first one, and it was absolutely amazing!"  
Mark stared at the photo of the shrine while listening to the driver's story with great interest.  
"It got a bit strange near the end though. You'll probably never believe me in a million years, but a giant fish attacked us all near the end of the concert."  
Mark gave a slight snicker, trying to make sure the cabbie didn't hear.  
"No, seriously. You ask anyone on Cherry Hill, they'll all say the same thing. It's just as well the Sailor Scouts sorted it out."

"The Sailor what?" Mark sounded slightly confused.  
"The Sailor Scouts. Some teenage girls with some sort of magical powers. At that time there was only five, but over the next couple of years after that there were about fifteen of them. Not to mention that guy in the Tux. They're heroes in this part of the world. They've saved Tokyo so many times I've lost count. There's even a tribute to them on the official Tokyo govenrment website! Problem is, they disappeared about three years ago. Not a single trace of them has been found. Some say they all just flew off back to the moon."  
"The moon?" Mark sounded even more confused before.  
"Yeah, that's right. The leader of the lot calls herself Sailor Moon. My son has a big crush on her." The driver giggled slightly. "There's four more that I can remember off the top of my head. There's one that's got the power of water, calls herself Sailor Mercury, one that has the power of love that calls herself Sailor Venus, one who has the power of fire, calls herself Sailor Mars and one that has electric powers who calls herself Sailor Jupiter. I'm suprised you haven't even heard of Salor Venus before. I heard she took a trip to London once. Goddamn traffic..."

The cab grinded to a halt as it joined the back of a long traffic jam in the inner-city freeway. It was the morning rush hour, and it didn't seem like the traffic was going to clear anytime soon.

"Sorry mac, looks like we're gonna be here for a while. This is the only way to get to south Tokyo from the airport." Mark didn't look too unhappy.  
"Where were we?" thought the cabbie out loud.  
"The Sailor Scouts?" asked Mark.  
"Ah yes, that's it. There's one that's also at the forefront of all Sailor Scout jokes -"  
"Lemmie guess..." interupted Mark "Sailor Uranus?"  
"Yeah, that's it." Chuckled the driver.

It would be a good hour before the taxi would reach the summit of Cherry Hill. During that time Mark asked the driver several questions about the area and the people. The driver had a fair knowledge of the area, and gave much advice to Mark. The taxi finally reached the summit and slowed to a halt outside the apartments. Mark glimpsed to his left to see the magnificent Hikawa shrine. However, something was slightly different than the temple in the picture; stood outside was a beautiful young woman, about the same age as Mark sweeping away the leaves from the front of the temple. The woman was tall with long black hair and a face that could not be described as anything less than bewitching. Mark was struck by the beauty of the woman and was under a spell.

"What's the damage please?" Asked Mark absent-mindedly.  
"What damage?" Asked the puzzled driver.  
Mark suddenly woke up from his brief spell and looked at the driver. "Oh, sorry. How much did the jouney cost please?"  
"3200 Yen please." Mark handed the money over to the driver.  
"By the way, that woman you were talking about earlier, is that over there to the left, the one with the long dark hair?"  
"Raye Hino? Yeah, that's her over there. Pretty, isn't she? Her grandfather was a very good, kind-hearted man." Explained the driver with a sense of pride. "Whatever you do though though, just don't call her Rachel. That cheeses her off big-time"  
"Cool." Mark got out of the cab and started unloading his suitcases onto the street.  
"Thanks for the lift, mate." said Mark once he had unloaded all of his suitcases.  
"Don't mention it. If you ever need any info about the area, call Cherry Hill taxis and ask for Shigeru 39." The driver handed Mark a small calling card before speeding off down the other side of Cherry Hill.

The air smelt of fresh of, unsuprisingly, cherries from the many cherry trees that lined the street. Mark looked behind him once again to catch a glimpse of Raye. She was still casually sweeping away the leaves which had begun to fall from the trees. Mark smiled to himself until Raye turned around. Upon seeing her look at him, Mark panicked and quickly turned towards the door, grabbed his suitcases and headed inside the apartment block.

* * *

Mark had found it a very challenging task to carry three very heavy suitcases up two flights of stairs. There were no lifts in the apartment block, so he was thankful that his apartment was not at the top floor of the seven-storey building. The hallway on the second floor was amazingly white. The marble floor glistened in the morning sunlight glaring in from the window behind him. The walls were also almost as white, bar the mahogany doors. Mark dragged his suitcases along the corridoor towards apartment 211 - down the other end of the corridoor. He was thankful that dragging the cases down the corridoor wasn't anywhere as tiring as carrying them up the stairs.

Mark knocked at the door. After a few seconds someone came to answer the door. A man about Mark's age opened the door with a security chain fixed. He didn't look Japanese, but Mark decided to speak in Japanese anyway. Mark felt slightly uneasy as he began speak.  
"Hi. I'm here about the student accomodation for Tokyo University." The man smiled before closing the door to unbolt the chain.  
"Ah, so you're the new lodger, eh?" Replied the man as he opened the door. "Mark Davison, isn't it?"  
"Yeah, that's me." Mark felt slightly more comfortable now.  
"C'mon in." The man stepped out of the way to allow Mark in. He was slightly shorter than Mark and of about the same build. He had fairly short, spiked dark hair and brown eyes. He resembled Fred Durst in the way he dressed, wearing Blue jeans, a white baggy shirt and white trainers. "Sarah, The new guy's here!" Much to Mark's suprise the man called in English. He spoke with a strong Brooklyn accent, leading Mark to believe that he was from New York.  
"Cool. I'll be there in a moment Jack." Replied a woman's voice from what appeared to be the kitchen. She sounded Austrailan.  
The man turned to Mark again. "The name's Jack Young." he said, still in English, as he went to shake Mark's hand.  
"Pleased to meet you. Good to hear someone speaking English again." Replied Mark slightly wearily."You from New York or something?"  
"Yeah. Brooklyn."  
"Wow. That's not too far from Manhattain island, is it?" Mark wanted to ask what it felt like to be living in New York on 9/11, but thought it would be better not to ask so soon after the anniversary, just in case it upset him in any way.  
"Yeah. It was just across the bridge from my home."

Sarah came out from the kitchen. She was slightly taller than Mark, with waist-long blonde hair tied into a pony-tail. She had fairly big blue eyes and a small nose. She was wearing a white vest top with "Oz, and damn proud of it!" printed in blue on the front, sky-blue jeans and white trainers. "Hi. You must be Mark!" she said as she went over and hugged him.  
"Hi. You must be Sarah."  
"I'm sure Jack's introduced me. I'm Sarah Langsdon." She had a smile on her face as wide as the grand canyon.  
Jack cut in. "I'll show ya to your room and tell ya the rules of this place." Jack lead Mark away, helping him with his suitcases.

* * *

_Ext. Hikawa Shrine. - Midday._

Raye had just finished sweeping the leaves. She went inside to the kitchen to make some tea. As she began to boil the water she realised that she had forgot to check her mail that morning. Checking the mail, apart from doing the occasional fire reading, was the highlight of her day. True she did sometimes go out with her friends, but ever since her grandfather died four years ago the full burden of the upkeeping of the temple was placed on her sholders, giving her less and less time. If it wasn't for a good samaritan priest at the temple at the foot of Cherry Hill, she wouldn't have been able to study Music, her only passion, at south Tokyo University.

She was quiet and timid; The complete opposite to her short-fused personality of four years ago. She was only a shadow of her former self, trapped in a life of lonelyness and very emotionally unstable. Little did she know back then how big an effect the death of her grandfather would affect her. Combined with the hatred of her negligent father who tried to take her away from her friends in Tokyo just days after her grandfather's death, at times she felt suicidal. She was seriously depressed and had tried to kill herself once before, only to be saved by Serena who decided to check in on her after an argument earlier. The only thing keeping her alive since was the love of her four best friends and how they would feel if she did kill herself. The only pride she had left in her was the fact she managed to avoid hitting the bottle, but even that battle wasn't over yet. She had one major fear invading the back of her mind - the fear that she had not hit absolute rock bottom yet. This was a very testing time for Raye.

She rarely got any meaningful mail; Most of the mail she recieved was just junk advertising some second-rate product. Sometimes she recieved mail addressed to her dear grandfather. Again, nearly all of this was junk sent by people who didn't care whether he was dead or not, but whenever Raye opened them she became overwhelmed in sadness. Just seeing the name of her grandfather on the envelopes nearly reduced her to tears. It seemed that in her world her grandfather was the only one that cared about her apart from her senshi friends. However, that afternoon she was about to be hit by a double-whammy.

She opened her mailbox and found several letters in it, much to her suprise. She had not had this much mail for a very long time. She carefully sifted her way through the small pile, separating the junk from the rest of the mail. As she got back inside she placed her mail at the table and walked back to the kitchen to throw the junk mail in the bin and pour her tea. A few moments later she returned with her tea, ready to read her larger-than-normal pile of mail. She started by opening the first blue envelope marked "Air Mail". Raye knew instantly it was from an old friend of hers, Amy, because of the German stamp in the top-right corner of the envelope. A small smile grew on her solumn face as she carefully opened the envelope. She pulled out the letter enclosed, as well as four photos. She unfolded the letter, her pain growing as she wondered how her genius friend was fairing so far away from home.

**_12th September 2002:_**

_Dear Raye,  
How are you and the girls? Is Cherry Hill still standing or has Serena demolished it yet ^,^? I have a VERY important thing to announce to you and the girls!_

"I seriously hope this is interesting." Thought Raye. "I'll probably die of complete boredom if nothing good happens soon. Won't be too much of a loss..." She continued to read the letter.

_Greg took me on a weekend break to Venice last weekend, and proposed to me! I was just so overwhelmed by it all that I couldn't say no! Please tell the girls ASAP! I've included four photos in the envelope of our visit._

Raye turned over the photos which had fallen onto the table. One showed a picture of Greg with his arm round Amy outside the _Galleria dell'Accademia_, one of Amy shopping in the city centre and two of Greg and Amy in a Gondola, sailing along the Grand Canal, in one of which they were kissing.  
"Lucky you... My true love flew off to California last year and I've heard nothing from him since." Raye was one for holding grudges, and she was still sour with the only person even close to being her true love: Chad. Raye was not in the mood for reading the rest of the letter. Her heart had been broken so many times in the past that she tended to stay away from romance. Raye packed the letter and photos back into the envelope before writing "Show to the girls" on the back of the envelope.

She was left fairly shaken by the letter. She was very happy for Amy, yet reading that letter stirred so many of Raye's personal deamons and memories of broken hearts. However, this was nothing compared to the next letter she opened. The handwriting on the front seemed very familiar, yet she couldn't quite tell who it was from. Raye stood up to open the envelope, slowly removing the letter. She began to pace back and forth through the small room while beginning to read the letter. It wasn't long before she froze with a look of complete mortification on her face. With her mouth wide open, tears slowly rolling down her face, the letter dropped from her hand, floating onto the dark floor below.

"... Ch... Ch... Ch..." She was having extreme trouble getting her words out.

"... Chad."

The tears continued to roll slowly down her face as her wide-open, shocked mouth turned into a big smile.  
"He's coming home... Oh my god... He's really coming back to Cherry Hill!"  
Her happiness of the sweet memories, those long evenings in they spent together, the moment she first laid eyes on him and their first kiss, suddenly turned to anger as she started to remember what happened the year before. The sheer aggression that built inside her when Chad said goodbye. Waking up in hospital the next morning with her friend by her side after nearly ending her own life. Returning home to the wake of destruction she had caused that night. Apart from her friends, Chad was the only "family" she had left and it was a tremendous blow to her already fragile personality. Upon reading the letter Raye had unintentionally found herself in the middle of an emotional battle with herself.

The letter had landed face-up on the floor.

**_14th September 2002_**

_Dear Raye,  
Wow... how do I put this? It's been such a long time since I last saw you..._

_I know you've probably been extremely angry with me over the past year for leaving you on such short notice. I'd just like to say that I had to take a year out from life on Cherry Hill to chase the surf. I am extremely sorry for any pain or sadness I have caused to you. I just needed a little time on my own to figure out what to do with my life and us._

_I have used this year to look inside myself and figure out what went wrong between us. The only thing I want in this world is to be with you for the rest of my life. I feel we can make a fresh start of it all and see where it leads this time. _

_If you do forgive me and want to try again, I'll be arriving at Terminal 2 of Tokyo airport on the 18th September at 2:40pm. I'll be on flight AA201. I've already found a place to live, an apartment I'm shaing with three other students. I've heard it's not too far from the temple. I won't be too sad if you decide not to take me back, it'll be no more than I deserve for doing what I did. If you can't make it to the airport, please call my cellphone ASAP._

_I love you Raye._

**_Chad_**

* * *

It had been three hours since Mark first arrived at his new home. He had unpacked his three bulging suitcases and put his clothing away into his wardrobe. He was frustratingly trying to configure his mobile to work in his new country.

"Jack? How many mobile phone networks are there in Japan?" Jack was in the lounge reading a TV guide.   
"Can't help you there, man. Ain't got a cellphone. Got any ideas Sarah?"  
"I think there's 6 networks." answered Sarah from the bathroom. "I got mine working through trial and error."  
"Dammit. Can't get the bloody thing to work." thought Mark, putting the phone down on his desk. "Jack? What kind of internet connetion have we got in this place?"  
"Broadband." Mark breathed a sigh of relief. "It's 25,000 yen per month, which is split between the four of us, so it costs virtually nothing."

Mark had just realised what Jack had just said. _The four of us._ Jack was intreagued to know who this fourth lodger would be.  
"Did you just say 'four of us'? Where's the fourth guy?" enquired Mark curiously.  
"Some surf guy. Claims he's from this area. Says he's returning home after a year out. Calls himself Chad Kumada."  
"Cool." Mark giggled to himself quietly as an image of Chad Kroeger from Nickelback came to his head.

Mark realised that he hadn't had a cup of tea since he had left Britain nearly thirty hours ago. "Anyone know if there's any teabags here?" asked Mark almost worryingly.  
"Teabags? In Tokyo? Good luck t'ya. Me and Sarah only drink coffee, so we wouldn't know."  
"I need tea damnit!" thought Mark, starting to get slight withdrawal. "I'll see if I can find some later. Anyone know where the nearest corner shop is?" asked Mark, unpacking his laptop from its carry case.  
"Nearest grocery store?" replied Jack before a slight pause. "I think there's one not too far from here. Turn left when you go out of here, and it's down the third street on your left."  
"Ta, thanks." Mark smiled while connecting his camera and mouse to the laptop. He personally dreaded the thought of drinking coffee in the morning instead of his usual cup of tea. "How do they do it?" he chuckled.

* * *

Raye had spent the previous hour trying to calm herself down after reading Chad's letter, but to little avail. She needed help. She needed her best friend to help her. She needed Serena.

Four years ago Raye and Serena were the most unlikely of friends. They were very close, although it was very often hard to tell. They were always arguing over very trivial things; Even the most insignificant discussions came very close to starting World War III. They truely were the odd couple.

However, it was Serena who first began to notice that something wasn't quite right in Raye's world. Raye had begun to let arguments go. Raye was becoming very absent-minded. Raye was becoming the very opposite of herself and all Serena could do was watch in great agony Raye descended from a very lively young woman to a sad and lonely young woman, living in fear.

Serena remembered so vividly that night when she was going to lose her friend forever. Walking into the temple to try and apologise about an argument about Darien earlier. Seeing pictures scattered throughout the hallway; the glass frames shattered, the upturned furniature scattered throughout the lounge and the smashed crockery on the kitchen floor. Her original fears that were the temple had been burgled and vandalised, but lurking in Raye's bedroom was the truth - a truth that was like a thousand daggers being plunged into her back. Raye was unconscious on the floor, an open bottle of pills in her lifeless left hand. Raye was killing herself.

At that very moment a million thoughts rushed through her head. Tears streaming from her eyes, she dialled an ambulance on her mobile phone as fast as her quaking fingers would let her. Those ten minutes of waiting for the ambulance would be ten of the most heart-wrenching, traumatising minutes of her life. Worse than seeing her four fellow Sailor Scouts suffer at the hands of queen Berryl. Worse than seeing Tuxedo Mask dying in her arms. Seeing her best friend reduced to this was THE most horrific thing she had ever seen in her life. 

She was trying as hard as she could to try and bring her back around, all while in the middle of a crying fit. She kept saying things to Raye in the hope of getting a reply. She even tried to act her annoying self in the hope of an obnoxious back-comment. There was nothing. She was fading away. Serena checked Raye's pulse, wishing she had Amy's vast knowledge of first aid with her. Raye's pulse was very faint, piling on Serena's fear that she was going to die. It was then that her prayers were answered. She heard the flailing siren of the ambulance grow louder and louder.

All that happened after that was just a blur, a horrible dream. Serena waited in A and E, cup of coffee in hand, for news of Raye's situation. It was approaching midnight and she had contacted the other girls on their communicators. It wasn't long before she was joined by the company of her dearest friends and some of their boyfriends, all horrified by the events of that night. Serena could still remember almost word for word what was said by everyone on that horrific night.

* * *

**_End of Chapter 1_**


	2. Night of Dispair

_Author's note:_

_I have never seen Greg in the series before, so I have absolutely no idea what his personality is like, so forgive me if I portray him completely wrong. And nope, I still do not own any of the stuff mentioned at the top of page 1 (although I wish Raye was mine... *starts daydreaming*)._

**Chapter II: Night of Dispair**

_South Tokyo Hospital, Accident and Emergency Ward. September 9th 2001 - 11:30pm._

"I... I just don't get it..." stuttered Serena, still shaking from the audeal. Darien had his arm tightly wrapped around her sholders. "Why... why would she do something as stupid as this?"  
"This is just so unlike her..." replied Amy solemnly, looking at the floor. "I can't see any reason at all why she would resort to-"  
She was interupted by the sound of Greg's mobile phone.  
"Sorry. Guess I forgot to turn it off..." Greg began to read the message he had just recieved. "Good lord..." He looked on in disbelief as he read through the message.  
"What is it?" Asked Michelle, holding a tissue to her eyes.  
"I think I found out why she just OD'd. It's Chad."  
The group looked at Greg in disbelief.  
"Says here he's just landed in Los Angeles airport for a new life and says his goodbyes to the lads."  
The group went silent for a few moments as they looked on in total shock. It was Darien that broke that silence.  
"That... bastard..." It was apparant that the situation was getting to him. It was very rarely that he got upset, but this was not any normal occasion. "I don't believe it! WHY THE HELL DIDN'T HE SAY GOODBYE IN PERSON?!?! AND DIDN'T HE HAVE ANY IDEA ABOUT HOW MUCH HE WOULD HURT RAYE?!?!"  
"Darien, calm down!" barked Serena. "Why don't you just go outside and catch some fresh air?"  
"CALM DOWN?!?!" Tears were starting to form in his eyes. "HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN THAT HE'S DRIVEN ONE OF OUR BEST FRIENDS TO SUICIDE?!?!"  
"C'mon mate, let's just take a walk outside." Greg grabbed the arm of Darien's coat and lead him outside before he caused any trouble.

"I should have seen it coming..." said Serena quietly. "Her grandpa, her father and now Chad. I knew she was going downhill. Why the hell didn't I do somethig about it?" Tears had begun to form again in her eyes. Mina handed her a tissue.  
"I don't think even you would have been able to stop what happened. It was inevitable. As horrible as that seems, that's the truth." Lita was trying her best to calm Serena down.  
"No. I could have done something. I could have actually cared about her for once."  
"And when haven't you cared for her?" asked Mina. "She's like a sister to you. It's you two that have the strongest friendship out of any other pair in this room. Whenever she needed help, you helped her. Whenever you were feeling low, you came to her for advice. Sure, you were anything but good to each other at first, but realise this: If you didn't care for her, you wouldn't be feeling this way right now. Right?"  
Mina turned away. "Anyway, the best we can hope for at the moment is that she comes round. Until then we just pray."

* * *

That night the weather had turned extremely vicious as heavy rain and high winds lashed the high-rise buildings. Under the entrance of south Tokyo Hospital's A & E ward Darien and Greg were discussing why Chad would leave without saying goodbye.

"Why? I mean, why just leave all of a sudden? He knew that he meant everything to Raye, so why do something so heartless?" Darien had calmed down slightly from his earlier outburst.  
"But haven't you contributed to that in a way? What about that fling you had with her?" Greg knew he was treading thin ice by asking that question, but he did believe that it may have been a part of the breakdown of her personality.  
Darien stared at Greg with a look that could shread a diamond.  
"What, exactly, does that have to do with this?"  
"C'mon. You broke the girl's heart. How can that not be a factor?" Greg knew that he was extremely close to overstepping the mark.  
"It was just something that happened! What's done is done. Anyway, I'd rather not talk about it." He was speaking in a particulary sour tone of voice.  
Greg was becoming extremely intimidated by Darien's ever-mounting fury. He decided to change the subject.  
"So..." Greg was desperately trying to think of a topic that didn't involve the girls. "I've heard that they've lined up Peter Day to play the next James Bond."

* * *

The mood in A & E was solemn, bar the other patients and their families waiting for a doctor to examine their injuries. For the past two hours all the senshi could think about was whether their friend would survive. However, the anxiousness of the friends was nowhere near that of Serena. All through the night she kept repeating to herself "Why didn't I stop her?". The agony of not knowing what was going on in the treatment rooms was eating away at her conscience. She was interupted by a voice behind her.  
"Serena Tsukino?"  
Serena turned around to see a doctor holding a clipboard. He was very tall and wore a white coat over his grey t-shirt and black trousers.  
"Yes? Is it about Raye?"  
"It is. May you come with me a second? I need to ask you a few questions." The doctor seemed very calm. It was just another day for him, so it didn't bother him too much.  
Serena slowly rose from her seat, her agony clearly expressed on her face. The group looked at her as she walked away, knowing that this would be the moment of truth. They knew that she was either dead or that her life was no longer in danger. The tension was unbearable.

The doctor's office happened to be just down the corridoor from where the group were waiting. It was fairly small; A desk and three filing cabinets took up the majority of the space.  
"Please sit down." Serena did so, bracing herself for the worst.  
"Do... do..." She paused. "Do you know how she is at the moment?"  
"Yes." The doctor had a very slight look of anxiety on his face. On seeing this she instantly assumed that it was over. Raye was dead. He continued. "She's still alive, but only just. I must warn you she's not quite out of the woods yet." A look of extreme relief overcame Serena. "We've pumped her stomach and found five partially digested tablets. We just need you to confirm a few things."  
"Fire away." Serena had a smile on her face.  
"First thing. Do you know what substance Miss Hino has taken?"  
"Paracetamol, that's what it said on the bottle." replied Serena instantly.  
"Right." The doctor wrote something down on his clipboard. "Next, do you have any reason as to why Miss Hino would decide to commit suicide?"  
Serena took a deep breath before explaining the whole story of Raye's transformation from happiness to loneliness. It had taken her nearly fifteen minutes before she had finished.  
"... and the boyfriend of a friend of mine, Greg Urawa, recieved a text message about two hours ago saying that Chad had flown off to Los Angeles. I think that Chad must have said goodbye to Raye in person. What they had going was a beautiful romance, even I have to admit, and when Chad left for the final time, it just pushed Raye over the edge. From what I can guess, she just trashed the place in rage and discovered the paracetamol in the kitchen by accident. She was so upset that she just wanted to end it all." Serena paused and looked down at her feet. "And here she is now..."

There was a knock at the door.  
"Enter." Another doctor in green robes came in thorough the door with a yellow piece of paper, which he then handed to the doctor who Serena was talking to.  
"Status report on Hino, Raye." said the doctor in green. Serena suddenly looked up upon hearing Raye being mentioned.  
"Thank you." The doctor in green left the office while the doctor sitting at the desk examined what was written.  
"Is it good news?" asked Serena with a very worried tone in her voice.  
"Looks like it. Your friend is in a stable condition but still unconscious. You can go see her when you're finished here."  
"Thank you." Even more tears had begun to form in Serena's eyes.  
"I personally believe that Miss Hino requires some counciling. It is rather clear that she has been very depressed as of late. However, I also believe that this may not be completely neccessary, seeing as you are a very good friend to her. What I suggest to you if at all possible is that you stay with Miss Hino when she is discharged from hospital and try and help her to recover her self-confidence. She'll probably listen more to her best friend than a psychiatrist she doesn't know."  
"I think that would defiately be the case. You wouldn't believe how stubborn she can be." said Serena, trying to act light-heartedly to cheer herself up.  
"Right then. That's all I need to know." He said while yawning. "I'll lead you to her bed now." Serena felt extremely happy to see her friend alive again, but was nervous at what to expect. Would she be the same old Raye when she woke up? Would she wake up? An infinate amount of questions rushed through her head as she left the small office.

Serena looked towards her friends as she entered the corridoor. All looked up at her, anxious as to what was said. Hotaru just couldn't take it any longer as she shouted at Serena.  
"Goddamnit Serena! What did the doc say? Is Raye alright?"  
Serena didn't say anything, but pointed two thumbs at her as she turned the corner. The group went wild, cheering as the news sunk in: Raye was alive. Amy rushed outside to tell Greg and Darien as the rest held a toast.

* * *

Everything seemed to go silent for Serena as she took the long trek to the recovery wards. On the way she passed many people, some with broken bones, some with bandaged cuts and bruises, one man was even being treated by the hospital crash team after he had collapsed. All these things made Serena very squeamish, but still she continued following the doctor, longing to see Raye again. It was then that she came into view. Serena paused before rushing over to her bedside.

"Oh Raye... What have you done to yourself?"  
She was unconscious, wrapped in several bed sheets. Her facial expression looked like she was in agony. Her face had gone a slight tint of purple and had large tired markings underneath her eyes. She was no longer the Raye that Serena had known for five happy years. What she saw in front of her was someone completely different. Someone who was so hurt and distressed that she had decided to take her life into her own hands.

All was silent in that room apart from the "bleep!" of the heart monitor above Raye's head. It was like something out of a tragedy. Serena was expecting the grim reaper to rear his ugly head at any moment and take away one of the people that matter most to her. He never did.  
"You... look so hurt..." She reached over to hold her hand, noticing the it was bandaged up.  
"Men, eh? They tell you they love you and then they go running off whenever it suits them..." The silence of Raye was severly affecting Serena, who yet again was close to tears.  
"I know you can hear me..." Serena smiled. "I'll tell you what, if you wake up, I will personally forgive you for everything that you've ever done to me."  
Serena fell silent for a few minutes, remembering all the good times they had spent together over the years. First meeting Raye, who accused her of being a nega monster, putting up with years of petty arguments, battling the Negaverse alongside Sailor Mars. All that seemed worlds away from this moment. 

As strage as it seemed, Serena actually wanted to see the Negaverse make a comeback. She had missed the days of being Sailor Moon, but more importantly, it would give her friend something to live for. Sure, being a Sailor Scout was sometimes a pain in the arse when the Negaverse attacked at the most incovenient of moments, but it was still fun. There was a thrill about it that made you proud to be defending the universe. It was something to do, and now that was no more, there was nothing to do except to carry on as a normal civilian doing day-to-day ordinary things. Serena was certain that had the Negerverse still been around at that time, Raye wouldn't have done what she did.

"Thought about it yet?" She asked Raye in a light hearted tone of voice. Still no reply came. Serena thought long and hard before another thought sprung to mind. It was visibly hurting Serena, but it had to be said. Serena was willing to try anything to get her friend back.  
"Okay... I'll forgive absolutely everything... even..." She paused to find her words. "...even that whole Darien incident... My friends are always more important than my lover..."  
What happened at that moment seemed like something out of one of those Hollywood movies. Serena could feel Raye's fingers twitching. She though that Raye was dreaming at first, but as she looked at Raye's pale purple face she looked in disbelief as she slowly but surely opened her left eye. Serena noticed that Raye was trying her hardest to smile, her mouth twitching. She was alive and awake. At that moment it seemed that nothing else mattered to Serena at all. Her best friend was alive.

"Thank... you..." Raye spoke in a very quiet, tired voice with a long gap in between each word.. "Sorry... put... you... through... this..."  
Serena was just overcome by all this. She got up and hugged Raye, tears streaming down her face.  
"Don't worry Raye... You're gonna be alright now... No-one can hurt you..."  
It was at this moment the two best friends realised that they were true friends and that all that arguing they had done over the years were meaningless. Serena knew that things were going to be different from that moment onwards, and even though she felt slightly sour for forgiving Raye for her affair with Darien, she knew how close to losing the only person closer to her than Darien. If there was a time to forgive and forget everything, this was it.

* * *

Serena had spent most of that night by Raye's side, leaving the group in the dark as to what exactly Raye's condition was. It was 6 a.m. the following morning, and most of the group were still waiting in the A & E ward. Amy was fast asleep on Greg's lap, as was Lita on Ken's. Hotaru and Trista had gone home to get some shut-eye. Darien was leaning against a wall, staring into his cup of coffee, more anxious about Raye's condition than anyone else in the group. Mina was eating a blueberry muffin that she bought from the canteen. No-one spoke; Everyone was either too nervous to speak or was asleep. It was Darien who spotted Serena at the end of the corridoor walking towards him.

"How is she?" Darien was still staring at his coffee, which had begun to turn cold.  
"Good news." She spoke quietly. Darien looked up at her. "She's alive and has regained consciousness." Darien downed the rest of his coffee before hugging Serena.  
"That's wonderful news, honey." said Darien, still hugging her.  
"As for that Chad, next time I see that piece of dirt he'll be sorry he ever messed with her!"  
"*scoff* Same here." Mina was still in the middle of eating her muffin.  
"Whaddya say we go home for a bit, eh, Serena?" Darien seemed very tired, only kept awake by the vast amount of coffee he had drunk.  
"Nah. You go on without me." Darien's smile turned to a faint frown. "Raye needs me here. Doctor's order. I'll probably be staying at her's for a few days after she comes home. You won't mind, will you?" Serena gave Darien a puppy dog eyes look that he instantly gave into.  
"Okay then. I'll get a cab home. I'm too tired to drive. I'll come back for the car after I've caught some Z's." Darien kissed Serena goodbye before leaving for the taxi rank.

"You go get yourself something to eat. You look starved." Mina smiled when Serena looked towards her. "I'll tell the others when they wake up." Mina threw her purse over to a suprised Serena, who juggled it for a bit before finally catching it. "It's on me. It's the least I could do after you saved Raye."  
Serena nodded at Mina as if to say thanks, before walking away to find the canteen.

* * *

It was a week before Raye was finally discharged, and what a tragic week that was. Raye and Serena had decided to watch a bit of TV in the early hours of the 11th to see if there was any good action movies on. Instead they watched in horror as they watched the attacks on New York and Washington unfolded.  
"How horrible! Using planes as missiles?!?! That's more evil than any of the Negaverse's work!" Serena was overwhelmed in disgust.  
"There's no excuse... for the murder of innocents..." Raye was still weak, but was clearly mortified.  
"Those poor people..."  
Serena shook her head in disbelief as news of the Pentagon attack and flight 93 were read out.  
"This is just sick... If I knew who was behind this I'd turn them to moon dust before they can say 'Sailor Moon'! No-one who does this sort of thing deserves to live!"  
"You can say... that again..." Raye stared at the TV screen wondering if it was all just a nightmare. She just wished that her good-for-nothing father lived in New York and not San Francisco. She would miss him and his *new* family the least out of all the people she knew.

* * *

The week seemed to fly by as Raye returned to her normal colour. She had made a full recovery, and had often decided to take walks around her ward. She seemed fairly happy enough, but the past returned to haunt her on her return to the temple.

"We've made a start of cleaning it up, but we haven't really had that much time. We've all been glued to the TV because of the news." Lita looked quite worried as she lead Raye and Serena towards the temple and opened the front door. Raye looked in at the total carnage she had caused.  
"Shit..." Raye looked around her amazed by what she was seeing while Serena was blushing from Raye's explicit outburst. "Did I really cause all this?"  
"You're the one with the bandaged hands, so I presume so." Lita smiled as Raye looked on, checking if there was still anything left intact.  
"I'd best find the broom then, if I didn't set it alight, that is." chuckled Raye, startled by her sheer destructiveness.

From that day on Raye was no longer short-fused and bad-mannered towards her friends. She was still pretty rude to other people, but now she had grown respect for Serena, and likewise back. However, she had grown a rather big distrust of men, most notibly Chad, although in the back of her heart she still longed for his return. She still loved him despite what he had done, but was too afraid to tell Serena in case she branded her a lovestruck fool. However, the love of her friends was stronger that it ever was, and that's all she ever needed for the coming year.

* * *

**_End of Chapter 2._**


	3. Homecoming

_Author's Note:_

_Yep, you guessed it, I still do not own any of the things mentioned on page 1, and yes, Mark is performing "Moonlight Destiny" as in the end theme to the S Movie, Hearts in Ice._

**Chapter III: Homecoming.**

_Int. Hiwaka Shrine - September 17th 2002, 1:30 pm._

"So he's expecting you to get back with him?"  
Serena had rushed to the shrine as quickly as possible after being called by Raye on her communicator. She knew it was very important since the communicators were only used in the case of a Negaverse return or an emergency. Because of this the communicators were very rarely used.

Serena was appalled by the news of Chad's return. She had never forgiven him for driving Raye to suicide despite not knowing his side of the story. She agonisingly listened to what the distraught Raye was saying.  
"Yes. I just don't think I could face seeing him again, but there's part of me that wants to, even after what he caused me to do. I mean, I can understand him now in retrospect, he just got a little too stressed out and took a long holiday to his favourite place." Raye was staring at her lap with a half-frown on her face, as if she was slightly confused.  
"Raye, have you gone totally soft? If I hadn't have found you lying there you'd be six feet under right now!" Serena looked at her with a sharp glare, upset as to why she would see anything in Chad.  
"I know. I must have been extremely whacked to try and overdose, but I... I still-"  
"You still love him?!" Raye nodded slowly, still too upset to make eye contact with Serena. "You must have less common sense than I thought. Why can't you get rid of him for good?"  
"I don't know." Raye slowly raised her head to look at Serena. "I just do. Strange as it seems, it feels like the lyrics of Oh Starry Night have come back to haunt me. I actually kinda based that song on him, it just seems so ironic now. He was the only real love I ever had," Raye was careful not to mention Darien. "And when he said he loved me for the first time, it all just seemed like one big fairytale come true." She looked to the floor again before speaking in a hurt tone of voice. "And now here I am all alone. Every night I cry myself to sleep. I used to believe that one day a prince would save me, but now I know better. I guess some thing are just not meant to be..." She had a smile on her face, but it was obvious she was trying to fight back tears. "I just don't know what to do."

There was a long pause as Serena tried to absorb Raye's speech. The dilema placed before her was pulling on all of her heart strings. On the one hand she could advise Raye to tell Chad to stick his letter where the sun don't shine, denying Raye the one she loved most in the process, or on the other side of the coin she could let Raye get back together with the piece of scum also known as Chad Kumada, running the risk of Raye successfully killing herself should it all go wrong again. She had absolutely no idea what to say. She knew Raye was beginning to get fed up of living on her own, but that night twelve months ago was still giving her nightmares.

Serena managed to finally get her words out several minutes later. She spoke softly, extremely nervous about what she just heard.   
"I... I honestly have no idea what to say about it Raye. I'm sorry. You have to make your own decision on this one. You know what my personal opinions of Chad are, but I don't want to go about denying you your happiness. If you do meet him at the airport, please, please make sure you know exactly what risks you're taking." Serena felt very dejected by not being able to come up with a rational answer.  
"I understand Serena. Thanks for the advice." She looked up at Serena's wonderfully blue eyes once more. "You just helped me make my mind up." "I'm staying put." Raye stood up and walked towards her phone. "I just need to make a small phone call." She grinned as Serena started clapping.  
"Tell him who's boss!" Serena cheered Raye on as she dialled Chad's number.

"Kumada." Chad answered the call with his typical rough, surf-dude voice.  
"Chad?" It was hurting Raye, but she knew she had to get him out of her system once and for all.  
"Raye? Is that you? Like, wow! It's been a while." Chad seemed very surprised.  
"It's about tomorow. I won't be able to make it to the airport." She tried her best to sound disappointed.  
"Oh... I know it's probably none of my business, but why not?"  
"You mean you don't even remember?!" Raye suddenly turned vicious. "You broke my heart last year! You meant more to me than anyone else in the world, but still you buggered off to America! Do you know how much pain that caused me?!" Chad froze. He was almost traumatized by what she had just said to him. "Well, go on, do ya?!"  
"Raye... I'm so sorry..." Chad sounded upset. Hearing this made Raye even more upset than Chad. She was fighting back tears, but knew this had to be done.  
"That didn't answer my question." She was feeling particulary acid-tongued at that moment.  
"I don't know..." Chad braced himself for an onslaught by Raye.  
"Let me tell you exactly how I was feeling that night when you left me for LA. I was devistated, more devistated than you and your small mind could possibly imagine. I smashed up the temple in a fit of rage, and oh, by the way, I found some paracetamol in the kitchen and decided to overdose. Just my little way of saying thanks for the memories. If Serena hadn't have found me, I would be in my grave right now. Don't worry though, to you I am dead."  
With those five words Chad had been emtionally destroyed. He dropped his phone as those words hit him like a 18-wheeler truck. Raye had never been this angry with Chad, not even before when they went out. He knew she was obnoxious, but this was killing him. Hearing her lash out at him in this heartless way was tearing him apart. However, he knew in his heart that this was what he deserved for leaving her on such short notice.  
"No witty comeback? If you've got nothing more to say to me, goodbye!" Raye slammed the phone down before recieving another round of applause from Serena. She slumped to to the ground crying while Serena came over and put an arm around her.

"What have I done? That was heartless!" Raye almost always felt guilty after doing something wrong, but what she had just done was pure evil.  
"Don't worry about it. Just remember no-one hurts Raye Hino and gets away with it. Was that honestly more heartless than what he did to you?"  
"Of course it was!" Raye burst out into a flood of tears. "He came by to say he was leaving the country and wanted to see me one last time. When I asked him he said that things were just getting a bit too much for him and he needed a break. I was just angry at the fact that he didn't bring me with him." Serena now began to look very guilty.  
"Hey, calm down Raye." Serena was trying her best to comfort Raye. "How about a trip to the mall tomorrow to take your mind off things?"  
"You mean it?" All her anger had suddenly vanished as she looked into Serena's eyes.  
"Sure. I'll get Mina and Lita to come along too." She smiled as Raye hugged her.  
"Thanks." Raye appreciated how much Serena had become a true friend over the past year. She knew that Serena would go to almost any lengths to protect her, and she also felt that she would do anything to protect Serena. Their friendship was almost unbreakable.  
"So, shall we meet up at the fountain outside the mall at about twelve?"   
"Yeah. You're on."

* * *

_Ext. Cherry Hill grocery store - September 18th 2002, 11:30 am._

Mark and Jack had been woken up this morning by Sarah's _Dance Hits_ album as she took her morning exercise. With just under a week to go until the beginning of their first year at University, they were trying to get as much rest as possible. Sarah just shrugged off this complaint, branding the pair "Lazy" and reminded them that their fourth lodger would be arriving today. Mark had spent the past half hour searching for tea bags in the local grocery store, but to little avail. Much to his disappointment he discovered that tea was only sold as packages of tea leaves. He felt rather annoyed that he would have to use a small sieve to pour his tea, but was glad he had brought a tea pot with him.

He was now on his way back to the apartment, his shopping in a rather full plastic bag hanging from his left hand, when he was suddenly startled by the ringing of his mobile phone. He looked down at his left pocket as he grabbed his phone, still walking on. As he managed to find it he was knocked to the floor, followed by a cry of pain from a nearby woman. He looked up to see a young woman, also knocked to the floor, clutching her left ankle. "Whoops..." he thought to himself as he picked himself and his shopping up and went over to the woman, trying to rember the polite forms of Japanese words.

"Are you okay Miss?" he asked the woman, offering a hand.  
"Does it look like it?!" The woman looked up at him. He instantly recognised her as the woman from outside the temple - Raye. She turned in agony towards her ankle which she was still clutching. "Aaarrgh! I think I've twisted my ankle."  
"You're the girl from the Hiwaka shrine, aren't you? Raye, is it?" Raye looked at him in surprise. "I'll help you back there if you want."  
"How do you know me?" She was amazed as to how this stranger knew her name.  
"Shigeru 39 told me about you. He's guy who took me here from the airport yesterday." Raye nodded her head in understanding.  
"Ah, Shigeru 39. He was a good friend of my grandfather." She reached up for his hand. Mark pulled her up as she slung her right arm around the back of Mark's shoulders. Mark was trying his best not to let his little crush get in the way of helping her. Slowly but surely Mark helped Raye to hop her way down the street to the temple.

It was a good fifteen minutes before the pair had crossed the road and reached the temple. Raye had occasionally stopped to catch her breath, finding the three blocks walk quite difficult on one leg. Mark had assisted her to the lounge of the cottage connected to the back of the shrine before he began searching for the kitchen to get some ice for her swolen ankle.  
"It's at the end of the corridoor. The ice is on the top shelf of the freezer compartment." Raye called out instructions in her usual bossy way as Mark searched frantically for the kitchen. "The tea towels are in the draw to the left of the sink."  
Mark had managed to find everything instantly and was just looking for something to tie up the makeshift ice-pack.  
"Do you know where the rubber bands are please?"  
"Look in the draw closest to the back door. I think there's some amongst that jumble." Jumble was a big understatement as Mark saw the chaos lurking inside. Discarded sweet wrappers, scrap paper, bent paper clips. It was an Aladdin's cave of useless junk. After searching for a while throught the pile of junk making sure the ice didn't begin to melt he finally found a rubber band and tied up the loose ends of the tea towel.  
"Oh, and could you get me the phone while you're there? It's in the hallway. I was supposed to be meeting someone at the fountain mall today." She still sounded slightly hurt by the accident, but had picked up a bit.  
"Sure." He made his way back to the lounge grabbing the phone from its charger on the way, handing it to Raye upon entering the lounge.  
"Thanks. Please, sit down." Mark sat down on a cushion on the other side of the room. Raye placed the ice pack on her pink, swolen ankle before dialling Serena.

"Tsukino." Serena sounded slightly concearned as it was nearly half twelve.  
"Hi, Serena." She tried to sound cheerful.  
"Raye! Where are you?" Serena's concearn had turned to slight aggression.  
"Looks like I wont be able to make it. I had a bit of an accident on the way and I've twisted my ankle."  
"Poor you! Don't worry. I'll be there soon." Serena's voice had turned back into a concearned tone.  
"Don't worry." She looked over at Mark "Some kind gentleman escorted me back to the temple."  
"Is he cute?" Serena chuckled much to Raye's expense.  
"SERENA!!!" She whispered down the phone trying to make sure Mark didn't hear. "He's here right now. I'm not telling you anything."  
"I'm coming over there myself then! We'll get the bus to the temple. See ya in ten!" Serena ended the call.

"Nice place you got here." Mark was gazing around the beautiful pine room.  
"Yeah. It's hard to believe this place is over sixty years old. It was rebuilt after the first one was burnt down in World War II." She gazed towards the greying ceiling "My grandfather refused to be drafted into the Japanese army. He was a very peaceful man and knew all too well what were happening to the prisoners of war. He wanted no part of it, he even said it made him ashamed to be Japanese."  
"So you're a priestess then?" Mark was fixed on her beautiful indigo eyes. Raye turned back towards him with a smile on her face.  
"Yes. I'm a shinto priestess. Ever since I began to live here he taught me the way of life and trained me to take over his role when he died." Raye sighed before continuing. "And now I've been running this temple for four years."  
"Oh. Do you have any other relations in the area?" Mark was still fixated on her wonderful eyes, which she then closed.  
"I'd... rather not talk about that..." It was apparant to Mark that he had just struck a nerve with her, so he quickly changed the topic.  
"Sorry. I've heard this is a nice area to live in." Raye opened her eyes again and looked into his. Something then came over her. A feeling. A feeling she hadn't felt for a long time. She took a deep breath before realising she was fixated on him. A thought suddenly rushed to her head as she tried to reply.  
"Oh god. I think I'm in love with the guy..." She suddenly remembered what he had just asked.  
"Yeah, this is a pretty good area to live. One of the best places in Tokyo."

Thoughts of him began to nag her. She was in love with a foreigner she didn't even know the name of. She knew this would be one of the very few opportunities in her life of romance, and remembering how long it took her to admit her feelings to Chad, she knew that she had to take her chances as soon as they appeared.  
"I don't believe I caught your name earlier." Raye smiled with an innocent look on her face.  
"Oh, sorry. The name's Mark Davison." He smiled back at her. He suspected at that moment she might have sussed that he liked her. Nethertheless he continued normally. Raye took the ice pack off her now slightly pink ankle.  
"Ah. Just a quick question. I was going to cook a stir fry for myself tonight, but I was thinking maybe you would like to join. It would be the least I could do to thank you." Raye was putting on her best say-yes-or-I-cry face. Mark didn't want to let an opportunity like this pass.  
"Sure. Thank you very much for your kindness. What time should I call here?"  
"Say, seven o'clock?" she asked as she looked down at her silver watch.  
"It's a date." Mark was feeling pretty happy with himself. Just over 24 hours in Tokyo and he had almost got himself a date.  
"Raye!!! Look what we got you!" Serena barged her way into the lounge much to Raye and Mark's dismay, followed by Lita and Mina.  
"SERENA!!!" Raye sat up as she let rip with her fury.  
"I think I'd better leave now. I can't thank you enough for your hospitality." Mark stood up and grabbed his shopping bag.  
"No, no, the pleasure's all mine. Thanks for bringing me back here." Raye tried to stay calm amidst giggles from Serena.  
"Thank you. See you later..." Mark swiftly left the room as Raye glared angrily at Serena.

"Wow. What a cute guy! New boyfriend, Raye?" Mina and Lita couldn't help but to laugh at Serena's comments. Raye looked as if she was was going to throw a fireball at Serena.  
"I swear, if it wasn't for my ankle I would kill you right now!" The girls continued to laugh as Raye got angrier. Suddenly, she remembered what she had said to him a few minutes ago. "As a matter of fact, he might well be my next boyfriend if things go well tonight." The girls giggled even louder. "I've just invited him to dinner tonight. If you must know, I do think he's cute."  
"Good job, Raye. He's really is cute!" Lita clasped her hands together as she spoke. "Although I do have to admit, he looks just like-" She was cut short by the other three.  
"We know! He looks just like your old boyfriend!" the other girls screamed in unison.  
"Well, he does..." Lita shrugged her sholders.  
"What about Amy getting engaged to Greg then, eh?" Mina changed the topic of conversation.

* * *

"You lucky fiend!" Jack was amazed at what Mark had done. "24 hours in Tokyo and you're already pulling all the chicks in!"  
"I dunno about that." Mark was trying to act modest. "I think its just serendipity."  
"Who cares? This calls for a celebration! I'll get the beers." Jack began to make a move for the kitchen.  
"No thanks. I think I wanna stay sober for tonight." Mark began to search through his wardrobe for something smart to wear.  
"Wise move. I'll get myself one anyway." With that, Jack disappeared into the kitchen.  
"Any idea when the new guy's gonna be here?" Mark shouted to Jack, selecting a white shirt, ocean blue gold-striped tie and a black suit from his wardrobe.  
"Chad? He's gonna be here later today. His plane arrives at about half four, so he'll probably be here by five." Jack walked back into the lounge, can of beer in hand.

Nothing particulary much happened until the arrival of Chad at five. He looked like a steriotypical surfer, tall with long brown hair covering his eyes wearing a grey "Surf's Up!" t-shirt and worn blue jeans.  
"Konnichiwa dudes!" Even though Chad was Japanese, he spoke with a Californian surf-dude accent. He had a guitar case slung over his back and two suitcases trailing behind him.  
"You must be Chad. Come on in." Mark was the first to speak. Him, Jack and Sarah were trying their best to remember their Japanese phrases as Chad stepped inside.  
"Thanks, man. These bags are, like, starting to kill me." He dropped the cases on the floor with a 'Thud!'.  
"Just wondering, do you speak English at all?" Jack knew he was hopeless at Japanese, so he hoped that Chad knew even a little bit of English.  
"Yeah, dude. I do know a fair bit." Replied Chad in English whilst Jack breathed a sigh of relief. His surf-dude accent was stronger than before. "I've just come back from a year with friends in Los Angeles."  
"I'll show ya to yer room and tell ya the rules of this place." Chad propped his guitar against the keyboard in the corner of the room before following Jack, his bags still trailing behind. Mark made his way to the bathroom to freshen up for tonight while Sarah was watching some random Japanese soap opera.

It was at least half an hour before the four regrouped in the lounge. Sarah and Jack were watching television, Chad was playing random rock songs on his acoustic guitar and Mark, taking a small break from getting ready, was playing "Moonlight Destiny", the ending theme of some Japanese anime movie he had seen a couple of years ago, singing English lyrics which he had made himself. Mark noticed that Chad began to play the beginning chords of a familiar song. He stopped playing the piano, stood up and walked towards Chad as he and Chad began to sing.

"And you, can bring me to my knees, again..." Jack and Sarah turned as Mark and Chad began to sing in perfect harmony. Chad sounded a lot like Bryan Adams singing while Mark sounded a fair bit like Fred Durst singing. It was just beautiful. Jack and Sarah eagerly listened with smiles on their faces as Chad and Mark reached the chorus.

"I'm on the outside, and I'm looking in.   
I can see through you, see your true colours.  
'Cause inside you're ugly, ugly like me.  
I can see through you, see to the real you."

Sarah was almost crying as the pair reached the angst-filled bridge, releasing all of their rage in one powerful verse before going almost silent for the final chorus. Jack and Sarah cheered and whistled as Chad and Mark realised they had been watching the whole performance. Chad laid his guitar down on the floor before giving Mark a high-five.  
"Dude, that majorly rocked! You're a brilliant singer!" Chad looked back towards the crying Sarah.  
"You can say that again. I'm very suprised the record companies haven't picked up on your voice yet!" Chad smiled as Mark looked at the clock on the wall. "Dammit! Twenty past six!" Remembering he was still in his underwear he dashed into his room to dress himself as the rest shook their heads in embarrasment. Chad turned back towards Jack.  
"Dude, what's his problem?" Chad looked confused.  
"Oh, he's got dinner with a lovely lady at seven." Jack giggled slightly when Mark rushed back in with his white shirt on looking for his tie.

It was ten to seven as Mark brushed down his suit one last time before leaving.  
"See ya guys. I'll tell ya how I did when I get back." Mark opened the door, boquet of red tulips in hand.  
"Break a leg!" Jack shouted from the kitchen as Mark shut the door and made his way outside the building. It was a beautiful evening. The sky was a beautiful shade of red from the evening sunset. Mark briskly crossed the road to reach the Hiwaka shrine opposite his apartment before knocking on the door of the cottage connected to the back.  
"Come in. It's not locked." Raye's cheerful voice called from behind the door.

* * *

**_End of Chapter 3_**


	4. Eternal Flame

_Author's note:_

_Wow. I can't believe how much good publicity this story's recieving! Thank you all for your reviews and don't forget to spread the word! If you haven't re-read the notes at the top of page 1 yet, it would be a good idea to do so before continuing since the storyline has changed slightly. And nope, I still don't own any of the things on page 1._

**Chapter IV: Eternal Flame**

Mark opened the door of the cottage as Raye came through to greet him. She was wearing a long, thin red dress with a slit down the right leg, red stilettos and what looked like rose-shaped ruby red earings, all of which perfetly contrasted her long, flowing black hair. Her beauty was no less than stunning, much to Mark's delight.  
"Hi." Raye looked at Mark in sheer bliss as he walked over towards her. "These are for you." He held forward the tulips, which she gladly accepted.  
"Oh, you shouldn't have. These are my favourites!" She placed them on the table beside her before hugging Mark. "I'll put these in water later. Would you like to make your way to the lounge please? I'll bring the meal through to you in a moment." It was clear that she had recovered from the ankle injury earlier that day, although she did have a slight limp in her step.  
"Oh, thank you." Mark made his way down the corridoor to the lounge, which was lit by three candles placed in the middle of the low table in the middle of the room. Some quiet jazz music was playing in the background.

Mark sat down on the floor in front of one of the small empty bowls. He wondered whether this candlelit dinner was more than just a way of saying "thank you" for helping Raye earlier. Soon enough Raye made her way into the lounge carrying a big bowl of rice and a bowl of beef in black bean sauce, carefully placing the bowls down on the table before returning to the kitchen to carry throught the other sauces. Mark offered to help, but Raye insisted that he should stay put.

A few minutes later Raye had brought everything in. The aroma of the many dishes was breathtaking. If the food tasted anywhere near as good as it smelt Mark knew he was in for a real treat.  
"Well, tuck in." Raye smiled as she and Mark reached for the scoop in the rice bowl, only to meet each others' hand.  
"Sorry." Raye blushed slightly as Mark moved his hand away, allowing her to fill her bowl with rice.  
"No, it's okay." Raye scooped some of the sweet and sour chicken dish onto her rice while Mark reached for the rice and the black bean dish. "So, whereabouts in the world do you come from then?"  
"Oh, I come from England. I lived in Southampton, although I originally come from near Liverpool." Raye looked into his eyes, which seemed to sparkle in the candlelight. "I flew here from Heathrow airport about 48 hours ago, and I live just across the road in those apartments." He took his chopsticks and started to eat a few pieces of beef. Raye raised her eyebrows in interest as she continued her meal. "Wow. This is the best chinese meal I've had in years!" Raye tried her best to look modest.  
"Oh, it's nothing. Chinese is my favourite type of food apart from Italian, so I enjoy cooking it. Speaking of England, one of my friends lived in London for a while. I don't know if you saw her earlier, but she was the one with the long blonde hair."  
"The one holding a white cat?"  
"Yeah. That's her. Have you ever been to London?"  
"Only once. I went to see an orchestral performance at the Albert Hall to help with my A level music." Raye looked up at him again in great interest.  
"The Royal Albert Hall? Wow. That's one of the places I want to visit if I ever go to England. I love British orchestral music!" Her eyes lit up at the thought of Edward Elgar and Benjamin Britten.  
"Same here. I'm studying music at south Tokyo University this year."   
Raye felt almost ecstatic upon hearing that he was studying the same subject as her.  
"No way! I'm studying Music at south Tokyo as well! We're so alike!"  
"Cool. I guess I'll be seeing you in the seminars, then." Mark had a broad smile on his face.

Both Raye and Mark decided to eat a little more of their food in front of them before Raye spoke again.  
"Wine? It's Australian mild white." She started to unscrew the cork.  
"Please." Raye poured the wine into the glasses. "Shigeru 39 told me somthing about a concert you put on every year."  
"Oh yeah, that." She took a quick sip of her wine. "That's basically just a showcase of songs I've written over the year. It was just meant to be a one-off at first, but because it was so popular I guess I just kept running it. I'll give you a CD of some of my songs later."  
"Thanks. He said something about a giant fish attacking everyone near the end of the first one though..." He hoped he didn't just ask a stupid question.  
"Ah, that thing..." Raye paused for a while as she scratched her shoulder blades. "Some mermaid-type creature decided to put everyone to sleep, and ended up ripping up most of my work. I just ran for cover and hoped it didn't put me to sleep." She paused, taking another sip of her wine. "Luckily Sailor Mars came along and sorted it out. She and Sailor Moon turned it into monster scampi!" She gave a small laugh. "I did manage to recover one piece called 'Oh Starry Night' though, which I performed at the end of the concert. It's track 12 on the CD. It's a ballad I wrote when I was in love with some guy that used to work here."  
"Can't wait to hear it."

The night wore on as the pair told stories about their previous experiences and jokes. Mark even helped out with the washing up, claiming that he was "simply being a gentleman." Soon enough though, it was time for Mark to leave. The night was clear, and all around the stars shone brightly. Raye and Mark were admiring the night sky as they were about to bid each other farewell.  
"It's a beautiful night. I can't thank you enough for tonight." Raye's glamourous indigo eyes seemed to be glowing in the starlight, while the gentle breeze seemed to bring her hair to life.  
"Oh, as I said, it's the least I could do to thank you." Raye was still fixated on Mark's beautiful face. It seemed like a dream to her. Here she was with the man she loved most under a beautiful starry night sky. Even though she had only just met him, she had to make him hers. The moment was just right.

They began to embrace each other, their arms slowly reaching around each others' back. Slowly they began to close their eyes as they moved their heads closer together. Raye could feel his warm breath on her face as she agonisingly longed for the moment that their lips would meet. However, it wasn't to be, at least not for the moment anyway. Mark moved his head towards the side of hers as they began to hug each other.

Raye felt a sudden surge of disappointment at the prospect of not being kissed by her new love, but she knew that he was rather shy and probably didn't want ot express his true feelings on their first date together. She knew that this was going to take time.  
"I don't know why, but just looking at the stars in the night sky just makes me feel good. It seems to bring images from millenia gone by to my head, strange as it sounds." Mark smiled as he held he in his arms, looking towards the sky.  
"Yeah. Tonight just seems so beautiful. It just seems like the perfect night for new beginnings." Raye looked back into his eyes while he pondered what she had just said.  
_"New Beginnings?"_ Mark had realised what she may have meant. _"She's making a move for me! Just don't ask her out too soon, though..."_  
"Indeed." Mark let go of Raye. "Well, I guess it's goodnight then. Thanks for everything." He turned away, walking back towards the road.  
"Goodnight. Enjoy the CD." Raye closed the door behind her as she entered the kitchen before sliding down it with a slightly disappointed look on her face. "Don't be too disappointed. Perhaps he just wants to take things one at a time..."

* * *

"Hey! Welcome back Romeo!" Jack was making slight fun of Mark's fortune.  
"Yep, yep." Mark crashed down on the sofa.  
"So, er, how'd it go?" Jack was very eagar to hear the gossip.  
"Good. Big test of my Japanese, but I think it went very well." He looked around. "No Chad?"  
"Oh, him. He's hit the sack. Says jet lag's majorly worn him out." The only thing that seemed to interest Jack was the date. "By the way, I forgot to ask you earlier, who's Juliet?"  
"I presume you mean my date?" A smile appeared on his tired face. "It's the priestess from the temple opposite this place. Her name's Raye Hino." Jack's jaw dropped in awe.  
"I don't believe it! You get all the luck! I've heard she's one of the most wanted girls in the area!" Mark began to look slightly smug.  
"I'll be seeing a lot more of her as well." Jack snickered slightly, trying not to be heard by Mark. "I didn't mean THAT, you pervert!" Mark turned slighlty angry while Jack tried his best to stop laughing.  
"Sorry man, it's just the way you said it." he chuckled.  
"What I meant is that she's going to be studying music in the same group as me." Mark smiled once more.  
"Oh." Jack sounded slightly sarcastic as he raised his eyebrows.  
"Anyway, we aren't going out with each other, at least not yet anyway. I've only known the girl for about 12 hours." He sounded distant. "I'm gonna go to bed now. I just hope Sarah doesn't wake us up again..." Mark shuddered as he thought of the prospect of Sarah's dance music playing at full-blast again.  
"Heh, don't worry about that, mac." Jack winked as Mark retired to bed.

* * *

Mark was treated to a lie in the following morning all thanks to Jack hiding Sarah's collection of CDs. However, the plan had slightly backfired on Jack when Sarah dumped the contents of the ice cube tray onto him while he was sleeping, revenge for hiding her precious CDs. Chad was up at about eight and was in the bathroom freshening up from his long flight. Mark was the last up, making his way into the lounge from the kitchen at about half eight eating a bacon sandwich he had just cooked.  
"How long's he gonna be?" Sarah was getting anxious about the fact that a guy was taking more time in the bathroom than she usually did.  
"Durro. I onry rust gorrup." said Mark, chewing his breakfast. "Owrongs ee been inner?"  
"A good half hour. I haven't washed my hair yet!" Sarah was starting to get increasingly frustrated.  
"He's probably just taking a shower." Mark had swallowed his bite. "It must take him ages to wash that mop on his head." Sarah snickered as Jack entered the room.  
"Morning." Jack looked shattered as he moped his way to the kitchen.  
"What's up with him?" Mark looked slightly suprised at the fact that Jack was walking around like a headless zombie.  
"I think he just got himself pissed as usual." Mark smirked at Sarah's comments.

A creak could be heard from the bathroom as Chad emerged from a plume of steam. Immediately Sarah rushed to claim the bathroom before anyone else did.  
"I think I'll just check my email, then..." Mark slowly walked back to his room and booted up his laptop, before opening his email program.  
"Let's see what we got here... A load of crap." As usual he had recieved a ton of junk mail, the usual stuff about loans and insurance that you don't care about at all. However, at the end of it all he noticed something that was relevant - an email with a video clip of his mum, dad and sister attached, wishing him well. "Wow. They finally got the cam working without me." he chuckled as he opened the movie and listened to what was being said.  
"Nice family, dude." Chad had come up behind him.  
"Morning Chad." Mark turned around to face Chad, wearing a towel, his face completely covered by his soaked hair.  
"Just came to ask where the hairdrier is." Mark didn't have a clue.  
"I dunno. Try askin' Sarah. She's the madonna around here. Sorry."  
"Okay, dude. Laters." Chad turned away to find Sarah. Mark suddenly noticed the CD on his desk which Raye had given him the night before. He plugged his headphones into the laptop before inserting the CD and playing it, starting on track 12 - "Oh Starry Night", the one song which she talked about so vibrantly that night. As the synthesizers finished their intro, a sudden feeling of total relaxation and serenity came over Mark as she started to sing.

"_I've waited all my life,  
For the day when love appears,  
Like a fairytale in days gone by,  
He will rescue me from my fears._

_And now, I feel him standing close to me,  
And how can I tell him what he means to me?  
My heart stands still, has he come?_

_Oh Starry Night,  
Is this the moment I dream of?  
Oh Starry Night,   
Tell me, is he my own true love?_"

"Wow. That's one helluva good singer!" Mark couldn't help but think of holding her under the beautiful night sky, those glistening stars above. Yet again he was bewitched, this time by the magnificence of her voice.

_"Every night I think of him,  
Here in my lonely room,  
Waiting for my prince to come,  
Wondering if he'll be here soon._

_As I sit patiently, waiting for a sign,  
And I hope that his heart longs for mine,  
He calls my name, is he the one?_

_Oh Starry Night,  
Is this the moment I dream of?  
Oh Starry Night,   
Tell me, is he my own true love?_

_Oh Starry Night,  
Is this the moment I dream of?  
Oh Starry Night,   
How Will I know? Will his love show?  
Is he my own true love?"_

Mark was no less than moved by this song. He noticed inside the cover that this song was written over six years ago, when she was only 14.  
"Wow. This girl's a genius! This is tons better than anything I've composed!" He was about to listen to the beginning of the CD when he was interupted by a shout by Chad.

"Dude! Look what's on the news!" Chad sounded slightly anxious. Mark rushed into the lounge.  
"What's up?" Mark sounded anxious himself.  
"Some monster's, like, attacking people in the electric district!" Mark seemed suprised.  
"Did you just say monster? I thought Godzilla was just a movie?" Chad frowned slightly.  
"Dude, this is serious. A few years ago Tokyo was attacked by some, like, evil dudes almost every week, sometimes even every few days. It says the scouts haven't turned up yet, and that's very bad news."  
Mark stared at the TV screen in dismay as pictures of the district in ruins appeared, shops seemingly being destroyed by what looked like coloured bolts of energy.  
"Holy shit..."

* * *

_Ext. Tokyo Electric District shopping centre - September 19th 2002, 11:40 am._

Chaos was the only word that could describe the situation of the Electric District at that time. Scores of innocent shoppers fled for their lives as shop windows shattered from the explosions of energy around. From the dust and the smoke emerged a tall man, donned in a black General's uniform laced with gold. He looked rather pale and had his long, black hair tied back into a short ponytail. A wide, evil grin appeared on his face as he admired the damage he had just caused.

"And I thought the Japanese were always punctual. Perhaps those absent-minded girls are not used to this anymore." he chuckled to himself as he blew up a few more TVs. Several more minutes passed and the man had left a total wake of destruction behind him as dead bodies and rubble lay in the street. Soon enough though, the inevitable returned.  
"Hold it right there, whoever you are!" Another, more sinister smile emerged on his face as he slowly turned round to face four young women donning white sailor fukus, rather short skirts and a golden tiara on each of their head. It was the one in the blue skirt with the two bunches atop her hair that had spoken.  
"Ah. So the 'legendary' sailor scouts of Tokyo aren't just a myth. It is truely an honour to meet those who had the guts to stand up to the likes of Queen Berryl, Wiseman and Prince Diamond." The scouts raised their guard as he slowly approched them.  
"Who do you think you are, ending the lives of many innocent people so terrifyingly?" The woman in blue spoke toughly, stepping forwards slightly.  
"I'm simply a messenger, here to tell you to expect a very nasty suprise within the next week. I am from the Earth - United States of America branch of the Negaverse, which has successfully managed to revive two of your greatest foes from Earth - Japan branch and is in the process of bringing back the whole party." All of the women except for the one in red with the long black hair were clearly shocked. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some more damage to cause." As quick as a flash, he threw his arms forwards and unleashed a devistating golden bolt of energy at the woman in blue.  
"SAILOR MOON!!!" the other girls shouted in horror as the woman was propelled several metres backwards screaming in agony. The woman in orange rushed to help her as the other two stared at the messenger in total rage.  
"Heh. Guess I don't know my own strength." the messenger chuckled. It was all too much for the woman in red.  
"You've got some nerve!" She clasped her hands together to make a gun shape. "MARS FIRE IGNITE!" She unleashed a large fireball at the messenger, who managed to dive out of the way, much to her disbelief.  
"WHAT?!" Not many enemies had ever been quick enough to dodge even her most basic attack. Her shock had made her vunreable, much to the messengers advantage, as she was swiftly sent flying towards the unconscious Sailor Moon with another blast of energy. The woman in green turned back towards her nemesis, clearly horrified. She was frozen to the spot.  
"And now for the next one." The messenger was preparing to launch another blast when he suddenly burst into flames. The next moment he was launched into a nearby wall. As the woman in the green skirt and tied back brunette hair looked around in confusion the messenger teleported away, scared as to why he was attacked by fire when he knew he had knocked the senshi of fire out cold. The woman continued to look around and try and find who had just saved her, but there was no-one except normal, panicking civilians.

* * *

_Int. Hiwaka shrine - 19th September 2002, 1:30 pm._

"I just can't believe it! They're bringing back the entire Negaverse army from the dead and knock Serena and Raye out cold!" Lita felt unusually angry about the whole situation which had just unfolded in front of her.  
It had been nearly an hour and a half since the attack. Raye and Serena were stretched out on cushions laid down on the floor of the lounge, plasters covering their wounds. A small black cat with a strange golden crescent symbol upon its forehead had just emerged.  
"News from central is that it's official. The scouts of New York knew nothing of this plan and were too late to stop it. Now we face an onslaught of all of our previous enemies." said the cat in a very saddened tone of voice.  
"You mean there are Sailor Scouts in New York, Luna?" Mina looked astonished at what the cat had just said.  
"Senshi yes, but technically not Sailor Scouts. There are four main groups of senshi on the Earth protecting the Negaverse's four main Earth targets: Tokyo, New York, London and Berlin. The majority of the New York senshi are male, so they have a slightly different dress code." Luna sounded slightly more upbeat talking about the other senshi group.  
"Yeah. Somehow I don't think anyone would take a guy dressed in a sailor fuku seriously at all. They'd probably think he's got a serious screw loose." joked Lita while checking Raye's pulse.  
"Indeed." Luna giggled. The thought alone of a guy in a sailor fuku was enough to send her into a laughing fit. "They opted for a more millitary-esque style. Somehow they didn't see running around the big apple in coloured Tuxedos as a particulary good idea." Mina and Lita giggled at the thought. "Still, we mustn't forget what just happened here. Lita, have you called Amy yet?"  
"Yes, but she says she's unable to fly back here because she doesn't have enough money for a plane to Tokyo, she can't afford to miss medical school and that Berlin's been having a few Nega-problems of its own. She sends her deepest apologies." The trio looked very downhearted.  
"This is very bad..." Luna looked down at the floor before looking over towards the unconscious Serena. "All we can hope for is a miracle..."

It was then that Lita remembered what had exactly happened in that battle. The way the messenger had just burst into flames for no apparant reason before being blasted into the wall by another fireball.  
"What about that... something... that made that guy go up in flames?"  
"No-one knows at the minute, but central's looking into it." The trio stood silent as they watched over Raye and Serena, knowing that this may be the hardest campaign they would ever run against the Negaverse.

* * *

**_End of Chapter 4_**


	5. All's Fair In Love And War

_You know the drill. I don't own any of the things on page 1, nor do I own any of the bands mentioned in this chapter._

**Chapter V: All's Fair In Love And War**

_Int. Apartment 211, Hiwaka view apartments - September 19th 2002, 1:35 pm._

Mark had returned after collecting a parcel from the post office at the bottom of the hill. He didn't seem too worried about the fact that something was attacking the Electric District while he was out, although he was mortified when he saw the ruins on TV earlier. He greeted his flatmates, all of which were glued to the only English-speaking news channel after the news had come through that a bomb had exploded in the electric district, the news channel not believing the story that a guy with magical powers attacked, nor did it believe that the Sailor Scouts had returned, despite knowing all too well that there were four sets scattered throughout the world.  
"Why would anyone want to attack Tokyo when Japan is not in the middle of any political situations at the moment?" Mark looked extremely anxiously as the other three, slightly agitated by the events of that day.  
"Don't know, dude. Japanese news is saying that it was definately a dude causing a loada, like, major explosions, and that there's, like, been a positive sighting of the Sailor Scouts by many eyewitnesses, but this channel doesn't, like, buy the story. They're, like, saying that it was a bomb." Mark looked slightly more anxious. It was then that he remembered about Raye. She was going to go on a shopping trip the day before, but Mark had slighly injured her ankle. He thought that maybe she had in fact gone shopping today to make up for not being able to yesterday.  
"I gotta go again guys. I just gotta check if someone's alright." As quick as lightning, Mark rushed out of the door and down the stairs.

* * *

_Int. Hiwaka Shrine - September 19th 2002, 1:40 pm._

"Okay, okay. I'm coming." Mina was slowly walking to the cottage's back door to check who was knocking so frantically. She opened it to see the guy who was leaving as they visited Raye yesterday.  
"Hi. Do you know if Raye's in please?" He looked worried.  
"Yeah. She's in but she can't see you right now. She's not feeling too well." The man looked even more worried.  
"Oh. Okay. I was just worried in case she got caught up in those bomb blasts earlier. If-" He was cut short as Mina looked down at the floor.  
"I'm afraid she was. Me and a friend were just watching over her and someone else who got caught up." The man looked distressed as he looked above. After a short pause, he spoke again.  
"May I... see her?" His voice trembled slightly. Mina paused for a while.  
"Okay. One question though, who are you?"  
"The name's Mark Davison. I helped your friend to get back here yesterday when she twisted her ankle." Mina nodded and stepped aside.

There was still a slight aroma of the chinese meal Raye had cooked for him the night before. Mark slowly made his way down the small hallway towards the lounge, butterflies invading his stomach as he had no idea what state she would be in. As he turned into the lounge he saw her stretched out on a few cushions on the floor, her limp, unconscious body decorated with plasters and bruses.  
"No... Raye..." It had seemed that all the guns in the world had just fired directly at his heart. As he slowly approached her Lita was about to confront him, only to be held back by Mina.  
"Leave him. He's the guy that brought her back here yesterday. He seems sweet enough." Lita stared at Mina disapprovingly.

As Mark started to kneel down, he noticed that her eyelids were starting to twitch slightly. He immediately looked back towards the other two girls.  
"Hey, I think she's coming back around." Mina and Lita looked suprised as they rused over to her side. Raye's eyelids trembled before finally opening to see Mark's anxious face, followed by Lita's and Mina's behind him.  
"Uh? Mark? What are you doing here?" She spoke softly, still in pain.  
"I heard on the news that there was a bomb blast in the Electric District. I just came to check if you're okay." She smiled before looking towards the unconscious Serena to her right.  
"Serena okay?" She looked anxious as Mina began to speak.  
"I dunno. She's still out cold and it doesn't look like she's gonna come round any time soon." Mina looked at Mark. "Could you leave us for a second, please? We need to tell her something in private."  
"Of course." Mark stood up and left the room, sitting himself back down at the kitchen table. Lita bent over Raye.

"Good to see you've come back around." A faint smile appeared on Raye's face.  
"Thanks. Why was Mark talking about a bomb blast?" She looked slightly puzzled as to why he thought a bomb was to blame.  
"Some cover-up story by the government." Lita was in conspiracy theory mode. "The whole of the civilised world has been in fear of terroroism ever since 9/11. If the government go ahead and say 'Oh yes. There's a madman from that group the Sailor Scouts were fighting a few years ago and he's trying to reduce Tokyo to rubble, but that's no reason to panic.', you've got a city in chaos. If they say that it was a bomb, people will be scared to go out, but nowhere near as scared as if the government announce that the Negaverse is on the loose again. Plus there's the economy..." Lita was demonstrating her polititians' skills to the max.  
"Sounds like they did the right thing then." replied Mina, trying her best not to look confused.  
"Yeah. Girls, what exactly happened after I was knocked out? And why didn't the outers turn up?" Raye was trying to lift herself up but was ushered down again by Mina.  
"I don't know why the outers never turned up. Just after you were blasted, the creep was about to take a swipe at me, and to be honest I was frozen to the spot." Lita sighed as she tried to recall what exactly had happened. "Suddenly the guy just burst into flames and was sent flying into a nearby wall. The chicken teleported out of there before he found out who sent that fireball."  
"Did you see who it was?" Raye was still trying her hardest to sit up.  
"No. That's the strange thing. Not a single trace of anyone except panicking civs. It's a shame Amy's in Berlin. We could have asked her to scan the area." Lita paused. "Whoever that was, they saved my life."

* * *

Mark was fiddling about with his palmtop pc. It was a unique design; A thin black rectangle with its top-left corner a slanted edge. Printed on the back was a strange red symbol. It had always been very reliable and was taken wherever Mark went.  
"Hmmm... Interesting." Mark had just found something of great interest. He was about to read further about the information he had just recieved, but was interupted by Mina. He casually turned the palmtop off as he looked up at her.  
"So, er, what brings you to Tokyo?" Mina tried to sound polite despite her curiosity.  
"Oh, I've come here to study at south Tokyo university. I'm aiming for degrees in computing and music. I'm in the same music group as your friend in there." Mark couldn't help but smile at Mina's charm.  
"Cool. I'm doing PE studies there. I'm hoping to become a world-class volleyball player. I'm already in the Japanese national under-21 female and mixed squads. My other friend in there, the brunette, Lita Kino, she's studying law there. She originally wanted to go study Law at Oxford or Cambridge, but she didn't want to leave her friends behind since one of our other friends had already left for Berlin." Mark smiled at the thought of England being mentioned once more.  
"Just wondering..." Mark had remembered what Raye had told him about Mina on that night. "Have you ever been to England?" Mina's already broad, semi-permanent smile broadened.  
"It's funny you should ask that. I lived in London for a fair while a few years ago. I lived with the family of an old friend of mine, I think it was near Notting Hill." Mark didn't seem too suprised.  
"Cool. Have you ever been to Liverpool or Southampton?"  
"Nah. I've only ever been to London. I've heard they're renamed Liverpool airport airport after John Lennon."  
"Yeah. It's been on the cards for a while now. I was born in Liverpool, but I moved to Southampton about ten years ago."  
"Cool. I've seen a couple of Merseyside derbys on TV. I always try to catch it if it's on." Minako smiled once more as her white cat entered the kitchen. "Just wondering, are you a red or a blue?"  
"True blue Evertonian. We've been a bit crap recently, but we've got a new manager in for this season and so far he's getting the results in." Mark stated with a great sense of pride.  
"Yeah. I don't really follow soccer, but I've always supported Everton in the derbys. I've heard that Wayne Rooney's a bit of a genius with the ball, and a bit of a hunk as well!" giggled Mina.  
"I wouldn't know about him being a hunk, but he's one of the best lads we've had in the squad in years. I heard he kept banging the ball into the back of the net in the-" He was interupted by Lita shouting.  
"Mina! Serena's waking up!" Mina looked down the hallway in suprise before getting up and dashing to the lounge.  
"Stay there." Mina called back at Mark.

Only Mark and the white cat remained in the kitchen. Mark called it over. Much to his suprise the cat sat down in front of him and looked up at his face. He noticed that there was some sort of golden crescent on the cat's forehead. Mark flicked out his palmtop once more before he decided to talk to the cat.  
"So I guess you belong to Mina then." The cat still stared at him, tipping its head to one side. Mark tapped his screen a few times. "I don't know. Some guy with mega powers destroys the electric district and the scouts were almost blasted to smitherines..." The cat now looked rather awkwardly at Mark. "Oh well, if in doubt, fire's the best remedy." The cat stood up and pranced away to the lounge.

* * *

A fair while had passed and Mark thougt that it was probably time to leave since he hadn't been called back to the lounge. He rose and made his way to the lounge where he saw the four girls engaged in conversation, the two cats sitting at the side. Mark made sure he could be heard.  
"Sorry to disturb you. I really must be going now. I've told the guys I was only gonna be out for a few minutes." The group looked at him before Raye quickly spoke.  
"No. Please stay. I haven't thanked you for visiting me." She had one of those innocent looks on her face that no-one could say no to.  
"Ay, go on then." Mark walked over to the group before sitting himself down on the dark green carpet lining the floor.  
"I don't think I properly introduced you all to each other yesterday. Serena, Lita, this is Mark." Raye looked back towards Mark. "Mark, this is Serena." Mark shook the extended hand of the woman with the two blonde bunches atop her hair. "And this is Lita." Mark turned to shake the hand of the reluctant woman with the tied-back brunette hair. "I believe you've already met Mina." Mina blushed slightly.  
"Pleased to meet y'all." Mark looked over to the two cats at the side. "Cats. Cool." He turned back towards Raye. "I know that Mina owns the white one. Is the dark one yours?"  
"Nah. She belongs to Serena. She's called Luna. Mina's cat is called Artemis."  
"Luna and Artemis, eh? Cool names. I guess you're all into mythology, then." Artemis started to approach Mark again before deciding to sit back down again by Luna.  
"Not really. I guess the people at the sanctuary just had a thing for the Romans and the Greeks." Just then a rumbling sound was heard. Everyone except Serena looked around in panic.  
"Whoops. Guess I'm a bit hungry. You got any cookies, Raye?" Serena chuckled as she clutched her stomach.  
"SERENA!!!" called out everyone except Mark, who was giggling at the situation.

To the side Luna and Artemis were whispering about Mark and the situation which had arisen, making sure that Mark couldn't hear. The last thing they wanted was a civilian to find out that they were talking cats.  
"He looks like a normal civilian. I don't see anything special." stated Luna, disbelieving Artemis.  
"If you haven't noticed, the Scouts look like normal civilians as well! All I ask is that you get central to do a quick search for the name 'Mark Davison'." Artemis was becoming rather annoyed with Luna.  
"Okay. I'll do it. Just don't get your hopes up." Artemis looked down at the carpet.  
"So, any more news on this American Negaverse thing?" He spoke softly with a great undertone of sadness.  
"Nothing except brace yourselves. My counterpart in New York says she will try to get some of the New York senshi to fly to Tokyo to help us out. London says it hasn't sent out any senshi to Japan, but their Mars senshi has gone missing." Artemis quickly looked back at Luna.  
"London's Mars senshi has gone missing. All the more reason to suspect this guy."  
"Artemis, this is no time to jump to conclusions. I'll do a search and tell you tomorrow. That's the end of the matter." The cats focussed back in on the group.

"Yeah! Tenacious D are the greatest!" called Serena as the group discussed the current state of rock music. "Who else would sing a tribute to the greatest song in the world or advice to guys about gettin' it on?"  
"I like to listen to Slipknot's music when I'm feeling angry. I can't believe Corey Taylor's unmasked himself though!" replied Raye who was clearly passionate about this topic. "There's times where I feel that people are nothing more than maggots, a plague to this planet."  
"I like Crazy Town. I can't wait to hear their new album. I just think that Shifty's so cute!" Mina blushed at the thought of her idol. "I don't really like rock though."  
"I've got a bit of a strange mixture of rock CDs. I've got most of Limp Bizkit's stuff and Rammstein, but I like to listen to Feeder and 'A' when I'm in a bit of a calmer mood." said Mark as Serena nodded.  
"So, er, how long have you been living in Tokyo?" asked Serena eagerly.  
"Just over two days. I've flown here to study Music and Computing at south Tokyo University. I live in the apartments just across the road." All except Lita listened enthusiastically. "I live with three flatmates. The latest guy came yesterday, some surf dude. He says he's a bit of a local here."  
"What's he called?" Raye seemed slightly agitated in the way that she spoke.  
"Chad. Chad Kumada."

Raye froze as more memories of that night when she had so carelessly took her life into her own hands. It was bad enough that Chad had returned to Tokyo, but now he was living just across the road from her. The words echoed in her head as fears of seeing him once again took control of her. She tried to recall her memories of al the good times she and Chad had together, but it was to no avail. All she could think about was that night when he came by to say his goodbyes with no warning. Tears formed in her eyes as her friends tried to comfort her while Lita stared scornfully at Mark, who was totally unaware as to how much pain would be caused by what he had just said.  
"Oh. I'm sorry. Did I just upset you or something?" Mark was quite suprised the way that Raye had broken down.  
"No, no. I'm sorry. Just some ghosts from the past haunting me." sniffled Raye, clearly upset.  
"I think it'd be best if I leave. Thanks for your time ladies." Mark swiftly left before any of the girls could convince him to stay any longer.  
"I don't trust that guy one bit." Lita was in a particulary foul mood. Mina immediately rose to his defence.  
"Come on Lita, give the guy some slack. He's only been here two days. He's one of the politest foreigners I've ever known, plus he's from England."  
"So? The guy's just upset Raye if you haven't just noticed."  
"Lita, please." Raye was still upset, but was trying her best to stay calm. "He didn't mean it. He has no idea about what Chad did." Lita reluctantly relented upon hearing this.  
"Okay. Just don't expect me to be the best of friends with him. There's something about him that I don't like."

* * *

_Int. Apartment 211, Hiwaka view apartments - September 19th 2002, 2:40 pm._

No sooner than Mark had closed the apartment's door behind him he was bombarded with questions from Jack.  
"Hey mac, where've ya been this past hour?" Mark turned around to see Jack almost in his face. He also noticed that Chad was busily strumming away on his guitar as usual. Because of this he thought that it would be inappropriate to discuss Raye in the presence of Chad.  
"Is it okay if I tell you someplace else? I want to tell you in private." He made sure that Chad wasn't listening in from behind the mop covering his hair.  
"Sure. Personal problem?" Mark lead Jack to the kitchen.  
"Not with me, no. You know that girl I had that date with last night?"  
"Yeah?"  
"She was caught up in that so-called bomb blast earlier." Jack looked shocked.  
"Is she...?"  
"No, she's alive. She was unconscious for a fair bit though. I've just been having a conversation with her and a few of her friends. The problem's this: when I mentioned that I was living with Chad, she froze and nearly broke down into tears. I decided to make a quick exit after she had calmed down in case I said something else to upset her. It's obvious that she knows him, but I don't know the relation." Jack shook his head in slight pity.  
"D'ya think he might be an ex-boyfriend?" Jack thought that this might explain her behaviour.  
"Possibly. I might ask him a couple of questions about her, but I don't want to get too personal."  
"True. You two've been getting along the best out of the four of us. You're both great musicians, and we love the free concerts!" Mark smiled at Jack's comments.  
"Yeah. I'll see if I can get him on his own before asking. If they are old flames, I guess that the last time they met ended in heartbreak, probably for her."  
"But won't Chad living here make things more complicated if you do get the girl in the end?" Jack didn't want the apartment to be turned into a warzone over the sake of a woman.  
"I'll cross that bridge when I reach it." With that Mark returned to his room to do some programming.

* * *

_Int. Apartment 211, Hiwaka view apartments - September 22nd 2002, 6:00 pm._

It was a few days before Mark managed to get Chad alone in the flat to talk to him about Raye. Chad was on the sofa drinking a can of cold beer while watching a rock channel. Mark sat down beside Chad, silent for a few moments before finally plucking up the courage to talk to him about her.  
"Chad."  
"Yeah? Wassup dude?"  
"I'm just wondering, do you know of anyone called Raye Hino?" Chad immediately looked up at his face, suprised that Mark knew Raye.  
"Yeah. I do. Why'd ya ask, dude?"  
"I bumped into her a few hours before you arrived here. To tell you the truth, I wasn't looking when I was trying to answer a call on my mobile and ended up bumping into her and knocking her over." He saw a slight glimpse of agression on what could be seen of his face. "She sprained her ankle slightly, so I helped her back to her temple and looked after her until her friends arrived. She told me something about you being a friend of hers." Chad lowered his agression slightly.  
"Yeah, dude. Once upon a time. We did actualy, like, go out with each other for a while, which majorly rocked, but I left the country for like a year out when our relationship was, like about to hit the rocks. She saw that as an insult and she's, like, been majorly sour with me ever since, which is, like, totally bogus, if you know what I mean." Mark felt very uneasy knowing that he was friends with the ex-boyfriend of the woman he loved.  
"So, you've come back to try and patch things up with her?"  
"Yeah, I feel we might be, like, able to, like, make a fresh start of it this time. I've also come back to, like, do my degree in music." Seriously big alarm bells began to ring in Mark's head.  
"Err, which university are you studying at, exactly?" He was seriously hoping Chad was not about to say south Tokyo.  
"South Tokyo Uni, dude. Where else?"  
"Holy shit... This is catastrophic!" was the very first thought that passed through Mark's head. Not only was his new friend going to battle with him to win Raye's heart, but he was also going to be in his music classes. Mark's world was starting to crumble. He quickly tried to think of a reply without mentioning his thoughts.  
"Cool. I'll be seeing you in the seminars then."

Everyone went to bed early that night awaiting their first day of university. Mark was feeling particulary troubled, knowing that Raye would definatly not be pleased to discover that Chad was also taking music. He couldn't help but think to himself for a good hour what exactly had gone on between Raye and Chad the year before and why they looked so hurt and distressed whenever they talked about each other. This was no ordinary romance gone wrong, and now he had found himself caught up in the middle of it all. The shadows of their past haunted him until he eventually fell asleep.

* * *

**_End of Chapter 5._**


	6. University Challenge

_Author's Notes:  
__I'd like to take this opportunity to personally thank Princess Ren for all the reviews she has submitted over the past couple of weeks. I'm glad that you're enjoying this story so much and hope you continue to enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it._

_I *still* don't own any of the things on page 1 nor do I own CNN or CowoyBebop, System Of A Down and the Foo Fighters belong to themselves and Bill Gates, please don't sue me over Artemis' one-liner about Windows. What computer nerd hasn't taken at least one swipe at Windows? Anyway, here goes..._

**Chapter VI: University Challenge.**

_Int. Apartment 211, Hiwaka view apartments - September 23rd 2002, 6:00 am._

Mark felt suprisingly fresh that morning despite worrying about Raye and Chad for a fair portion of the night. In the background he could hear some heavy rock music playing."  
"Heh. Chad must've beaten Sarah to the CD player." he thought to himself as he dragged himself out of bed and grabbed a towel before heading to the bathroom to take a quick shower. In the lounge Sarah felt slightly annoyed at the fact that Chad was playing his System Of A Down album, leaving her unable to play her Dance Hits CD. Jack was toasting a few onion bagles which had been sent to him by his family. The scene in the apartment that morning was frantic as everyone rushed around preparing for their first day of University like sugar-powered flies. Jack was studying journalism and English Language in the hope of getting a good job as a reporter at a major newspaper. Sarah was studying drama. She had already starred in several small productions in her hometown of Sydney, but was hoping that a degree would lead her onto bigger and better things.  
"So, how are we gonna get there?" asked Sarah as she downed a bowl of museli.  
"I think the 25 bus, like, comes down this way at half eight and, like, goes past the Uni." Chad was scoffing down some cerial.  
"Ugh. I hate busses." Sarah stood up to take her now empty bowl to the kitchen. Mark emerged from the bathroom and headed towards his room to dry himself off.

* * *

_Int. Aino Family Residence - September 23rd 2002, 6:20 am._

Luna had been out all night at the arcade trying to find out as much information from central about England's senshi of fire as she could, but to little avail. Central that night was having major difficulties after much of its information network crashed leaving them unable to access files about each of the four sets of Earth senshi. There was no evidence of a hacker either. It was as if their computer network had just had enough and was rebelling. However, she did get snippits of information about the Mars senshi. She carefully slipped into the kitchen through the cat flap taking care as to check whether Mina's parents were up. All was quiet as she prowled up the stairs towards Mina's room. When she stepped inside, sure enough curled up on the end of the bed was Artemis. She jumped up onto Mina's bed and nudged Artemis.  
"Wake up Artemis. I got your info on that guy." As she contined to tap him on the head he eventually came round.  
"Luna..." yawned Artemis. It was the first time in a long while he had been woken up so early. "what time is it?"  
"Never mind what time it is. I've been up all night at the arcade looking for your precious information. Do you want the good news or the bad news?" She looked scornfully at Artemis.  
"Okay, okay. Let's hear the bad news first." He was still curled up.  
"Central's server crashed mysteriously and they can't access the scout profiles. Plus communications with London has been lost."   
"I warned them not to install Windows on that network. Never trust any operating system made by an Earthling." Luna was angered further by Artemis' lack of seriousness.  
"They didn't! They stuck with the old system. Anyway, that's beside the point." She cleared her throat.   
"That system's even worse!" Luna couldn't be bothered to rise to his remarks.  
"And to think I'm destined to be with him. Makes me appreciate how Darien must feel sometimes." she thought to herself, not amused by Artemis' antics.

"I found absolutely no information about the civilian form, but I got a fair bit of information about London's Mars senshi." Artemis looked slightly annoyed at Central's mishap. He would have to wait further to find out whether his hunch was true.  
"So, what powers does this _thing_ have then?" He looked over at Mina, who was still fast asleep.  
"Mainly Sailor Mars', but there is a hint of Mercury to him as well. The transformation key for the English knights is a coloured jewel on a golden pendant. They thought pendants on necklaces would be the best option since they thought that wands looked a little silly and so that they looked okay on both the guys and the girls." Artemis nodded. "Even though the name suggests they are like the knights of the round table, their dress code is anything but that, if you exclude their ultimate transformation that is. They mainly don black with their colour striped down the side of their tops and trousers or skirts. Their powers reflect that of the Sailor Scouts, even though their attacks are for the most part completely different. 

The main difference between the Scouts and the Knights is that there's no Tuxedo Mask or any equivalent, despite the Moonlight Knight being female. The other main difference is that the Mars knight is the scanner of the group, rumoured to have an upgraded version of Sailor Mercury's computer which he often uses in his civilian form." Artemis instantly remembered that Mark was doing something with a palmtop computer in Raye's kitchin a few days ago.  
"Have you got a description of his computer?" Artemis smirked even more. At this point he was certain he was right.  
"Nope. They don't even know if the Mars knight uses a standard issue MoonOS scanner." Artemis jumped up.  
"Damn. That guy was using a computer that looked like Amy's a few days ago. The only difference was the colour."  
"So, should I try again some other time? I still think you're wasting your and my time." Artemis looked very frustrated at not knowing whether his hunch was right or not.  
"Yes. We need all the info we can get on this guy. If no-one know his destiny, any number of things could happen to Crystal Tokyo in the future. For all we know, this may end up with Endymon and Serenity not becoming King and Queen in the end." Artemis sat down again on the end of the bed as they waited for Mina to wake herself up.

* * *

_Int. Hiwaka shrine - September 23rd 2002, 8:00 am._

"Hi. You must be Raye Hino."  
Raye's part-time replacement had turned up at the shrine's front entrance dead-on-time. He was a middle-aged man with greying black hair and a short grey beard. He was wearing his white and red Shinto priest's robes, almost identical to Raye's if not a fair bit bigger. Raye was relishing the factthat school uniform no longer applied, wearing a bright red short-sleaved top, black trousers, black shoes and several golden bangles.  
"You must be Mr. Yakama. Please come in." They bowed before she stepped aside to allow the cheery man into the temple's main fire room. "I trust I've told you all you needed to know over the phone."  
"Yep. Kitchen, busy periods, maintainance. I'm sure I can remember it all."  
"I can't thank you enough for all this. You're the reason why I'm going to University in half an hour." The man's cheerfulness masked his modesty well.  
"Oh, it's nothing. University was one of the best times of my life. That's why my second profession is a novelist."  
"Cool." Raye looked at her watch. "I'd best leave you now. I've got about twenty minutes to get out of here and I still haven't done my hair. Thanks again."  
"Don't mention it. I'll just make myself some tea." With that, Raye dashed to the bathroom to tidy her hair whilst Mr. Yakuma slowly made his way to the kitchen.

* * *

_Ext. Cherry Hill bus stop - September 23rd 2002, 8:25 am._

"Are you sure this thing'll turn up?" Jack had never trusted busses and had never found the busses in New York reliable.  
"Dude, chill. I'm certain it'll be here. It's not due for, like, another five minutes anyways." Chad was dressed in his Jeans and dark red surfer's T-Shirt.  
"Yeah. The busses were reliable where I come from." Mark was wearing his freshly-cleaned Everton shirt and white trousers.

Across the road from them was Raye, panicking as she across the crossing. She had hardly ever taken the bus to school before and had a slight phoebia of travelling on them dating back to one of the first waves of Negaverse attacks, the day when she discovered she was Sailor Mars. With the news of an imminant return by her foes, she was especially nervous. In the distance she saw the stop with four students waiting, two of which she instantly recognised: Mark - and Chad.  
"Goddamnit! Don't tell me HE's gonna be cathing the bus as well!" She was feeling too stressed at that time to feel any pity or sadness. It was time for a return to the days when she treated Chad like dirt. She slowed down to a walking pace as she was within talking-distance of them.  
"Hi Mark." He turned around and looked very suprised by her presence.  
"Oh. Hi Raye. You're looking very nice this morning, if I do say so myself." Raye was flattered by his comments. Chad felt extremely uneasy. He wanted nothing more than to talk to Raye, but he knew that it was best not to try and convince one of the stubbornest women in the world to take him back in front of his flatmates on a monday morning.  
"Have you had a chance to listen to my CD yet?" Raye was beaming despite her ex-boyfriend being just yards away from her.  
"Oh yeah. I've only really had time to listen to one track, that one you were talking about and I can honestly say I was blown away. You've got to be one of the greatest singers and ballad composers I've heard in a long time!" Raye was flattered further by Mark's praise.  
"Well, most people regard 'Oh Starry Night' as one of my best songs, and as I said, I made that as the closing piece to my first concert..." She looked towards Chad sourly. "... and I based the lyrics on my feelings at the time for a certain guy I knew." Mark turned around to see a very hurt look on what could be seen of Chad's face. He had pity for the guy, but didn't want to pass judgement since he didn't know the full story.  
"Guys, the bus is coming." Sarah signalled to stop the white and green bus as the five got on and found seats near the back. Raye was trying to make sure she was sitting next to Mark and not Chad, but was sandwiched between the two on the back row. Jack sat down next to Sarah on the left-hand side.  
"I don't believe you've met my other two friends." Mark grabbed the attention of Jack and Sarah as the bus began to move. "Jack, Sarah, this is Raye. Raye, this is Sarah and this is Jack" Sarah and Jack took it in turns to shake the still smiling Raye's hand.  
"Pleased to meet you two."  
"The pleasure's all ours." replied Jack eagerly.  
"So, wherebouts in the world do you two come from then?" Raye seemed genuinely interested in the cultures of foreigners. She knew that the British made their tea differently to the Japanese and that most Americans were obsessed with big things and were stereotypically portrayed as being stupid. It was Sarah who replied first this time.  
"Sydney, Australia."  
"Cool. I've heard that's a great place to live with all the sunshine and golden beaches."  
"Yeah, it can be during the summer, but it's basically another one of your average overcrowded capital cities. It's a great spot for surfers." Chad briefly looked up upon hearing Sarah talking about the surf, but just turned the other way once more, determined to get Raye out of his mind.  
"So, where're you from Jack?"  
"Brooklyn, New York." Raye looked more interested. She had loved visits to America even though she absolutely despised visiting her father. "It's a bit rough, but my old apartment was right by the waterfront so we had a great view of the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge and the World Trade Centre until 9/11."  
"Wow. Did you actually see the attack with your own eyes?" She remembered her overwhelming feeling of total mortification as she lay in her hospital bed watching the events unfold.  
"Who didn't? I was workin' at the time, and when my boss said that New York was under attack I ran back to my apartment to check if my folks were fine. We all grabbed chairs and spent the next hour or so staring out the window in complete horror. My pa had CNN on so we heard about Washington and flight 93 as well. You just didn't want to be living in America that day, never mind New York." Jack tried not to sound ominous.  
"Like, an old friend of one of my surfin' buddies died in the New York attack. They never even found any of his body parts in the rubble." Chad paused for thought, anticipating a disrespectful comment from Raye. "I guess that kinda set my break in California off to a majorly bogus start. I knew the guy a bit so I was, like, kinda sad, but it, like, totally wiped out my surf buddy." The five paused for a while, trying to think of a way of changing the subject without sounding disrespectful. Mark instantly thought of a hillarious music video he had seen a couple of weeks ago.  
"Has anyone seen the video for that Tenacious D song? Y'know, the one where they play 'The greatest song in the world' to the devil?" giggled Mark, hoping that this would lift the mood.  
"That video's the greatest! They're just so funny! I love when they burst out of the booth near the end and start singing to the old woman!" replied Jack, again laughing.  
"Yeah!" Sarah was rarely bothered with music, bar her dance CDs. "They got Dave Grohl in as the devil. He's such a hunk! I love the Foo Fighters."  
"I saw it once at a friend's house. I thought it was pretty stupid and quite funny. My friend was in hysterics." Raye loved to listen to all types of music except manufactured pop. However, she rarely watched the music videos because of her dispisal of television. "I have to agree with you though, Dave Grohl is so hot!" The two women giggled as the three men had confused looks on their faces.  
"No!" Mark realised that the university stop was just metres away as he quickly pulled the bell cord above him to stop the bus. The five stepped off the bus before attempting to figure out where the meeting place for all the new students was. However, after several minutes of confusion and sign-following they reached the giant hall packed with a couple of hundred new students. 

The auditorium was very large and very modern. Steel beams several metres above them held the thin grey metal roof. The walls were awash with white, contrasting the pine flooring. To their right a series of large, seemingly spotless windows illuminated the huge venue. The noise generated by those students was tremendous. Raye didn't bother looking for Mina and Lita. The chances were that she probably wouldn't be able to find them amongst such a large crowd.  
"So, er, where d'we go?" Jack was rather puzzled by the large groups of people scattered throughout the room.  
"Dude, according to this we gotta, like, collect our timetables from, like, each course we're takin'." replied Chad, desperately looking for the Music booth.  
"Should we meet again by the enterance?" Mark was taller than most people in the room, so he found it easier to browse around for the Computing and Music booths.  
"Yeah. See y'all in a few minutes." Raye dashed out into the sea of people eager to collect her Music timetable before Chad had a chance to speak to her.

* * *

_Int. 14 Atherton Street, Knightsbridge, London - September 23rd 2002, 9:50 pm GMT._

"You're crazy, Mars. Tokyo hasn't had an attack for four years." It was late on a unusually cold Monday night. Another hard day's work at London University had completely taken the wind out of Anna Motson. Clutching a photo of her eight friends with her. "What have you got to prove with destiny? The Japanese Sailor Scouts wiped out any Nega-threat a long time ago." She was a young woman, about 19 years old. She was fairly short but increadibly graceful, with long golden hair tied into a thick ponytail. Around her neck was a thin golden necklace with a quite large silver crystal attached. Inside that crystal was a golden crescent, seemingly trapped and encased in the crystal.  
"Not neccessarily." A grey tabby entered her bedroom. It was fairly big and sported what appeared to be a golden crescent on its forehead. "Tokyo's electric district was attacked a few days ago, and Berlin is suffering from a wave of minor attacks." A look of shock overcame Anna's face. "Berlin's been mainly okay because of the help of Japan's Sailor Mercury, but that attack in Tokyo left several civilians dead. To top it all off, I've been unable to contact Central for two days."  
"So you mean we're gonna be back in action?" She looked very anxious.  
"Possibly. It all depends on how the Japanese situation goes." Anna closed her eyes and shook her head in disbelief.  
"Great, Ganymede, just great. The Americans screw up as usual and plunge the other three divisions in the deep end. Absolutely bloody brilliant. I'm in the middle of my University course and I'm called back into action. You won't believe how much that will affect my studies."  
"You're not the only one. Most of the soldiers in all four divisions are in University or college at the moment. The only exceptions are Maria Holtz for Germany, Andrew Tyler and James Anderson for the USA and Serena Tsukino, Amara Tenou and Michelle Kaiou for Japan. Japan's Hotaru Tomoe is still in High School since she's only 16." Despite the tabby's best efforts to explain the situation in a reasonable manner, Anna was clearly still fairly shocked.  
"Serena Tsukino. I've heard of her. She's supposed to be our Queen in the next lifetime. I can't believe destiny would choose such a clumsy woman." The cat smirked as it shook its head.  
"There's a lot more to her than her clumsy attitude. I don't think destiny would have picked her unless he knew what he was doing. I've seen the future Neo-Queen Serenity myself and she appears to be a more-than-adequet character. I think we'll be in safe hands in our next lifetime."  
"I seriously hope you're right." Anna looked at the floor before pausing. A smirk appeared on her face. "I've heard that Japan's Michelle and Amara are lesbians. Is it true?"  
"I don't personally see what anyone's sexual preferences has to do with the present situation. If you must know, they are. That's all I'm saying on the matter. Anyway, why are you acting so unpolitely tonight?" The smile vanished from Anna's face as she turned to stare at the Silver Crystal in her hand.  
"I don't know. I'm just feeling pretty stressed. My work's taken its toll on me, Mark's left Britain and now this crisis has been dumped on us, added to the fact that it's only monday. This is probably gonna be one of those weeks. I just hope I don't have to use this thing again any time soon, Ganymede." She glared into the glistening crescent encased in the crystal.  
"That's what I'm hoping for as well, but that may be the only option should I get any negative feedback from Luna in Tokyo. We can only wait at this moment."

* * *

_Int. Faculty of Music Hall 1, south Tokyo University - 9:25 am local time._

"I'd like to welcome you all to hopefully your final four years of full-time education." Their professor of music introduced herself to the forty new students studying music as their first degree. She was fairly short, typical of a Japanese woman, with shoulder-length black hair with golden streaks. The hall itself was much like the auditorium they had registered at less than an hour ago. Again the halls were awash with white, bar the many music-related posters attached to the wall, with a pine floor. The seats were elevated on a curved grandstand with several rows of seats each higher than the last. Mark sat down in one of the middle rows next to the steps leading down to the main pit where the professor stood. Raye decided to sit to Mark's left, wishing all she could that Chad would not sit near her. Chad was feeling all to dejected by Raye at that moment that he decided to sit on the other side of the room rather than follow her like a lost puppy. The last thing he needed if he wanted to get back with her was if she thought that he was stalking her.  
"I'm professor Yoko Kanata and I will be your teacher for the next year. You should all be aware that this course is split into three parts: Composition, listneing and performance. Let's get straight to business and introduce ourselves by performing a piece each. It may be any piece performed with any instrument, although I will allow vocal solos if you so wish." Raye laughed to herself at this decision. Her vocal talents could not be beaten by anyone this side of Cherry Hill. The question now was which song to sing. "I'll pick a random name off the register, and today's first victim is..." She closed her eyes as she placed her finger on the sheet on her desk. "... Mark Davison."

"Heh. Go gettem Mark!" Raye whispered to him as he held his hand over his face in embarrasment before standing up and striding down the steps towards the piano in the pit before sitting down on the stool.  
"So, tell us about yourself and what you will be performing today." Mark took in a deep breath.  
"My name is Mark Davison, and I come from Southampton, England. I'm twenty years old and I'm studying Music and Computing here. I live on Cherry Hill with three flatmates, and today I will be performing a tune from an anime that I love called "Cowboy Bebop", the ending theme "The Real Folk Blues."  
The room fell silent as Mark began to play the bass chords of the tune that had become almost an anthem to Otakus worldwide. What happened next had certainly not been expected by anyone in the room at all.  
"SMASH!!!"  
The students ran for the exits as fast as their legs could take them. Raye dived into a storage cupboard nearby. Mark stood up at the piano confused as to what all the commotion was all about. At the emergency exit at the top of the stand stood a man in a dark, gold-laced millitary uniform with shoulder-length wavy golden hair emerging from the dust sent flying by his entrance. He was smirking.  
"Excuse me. Just who the hell are you barging in like that?" Mark seemed more annoyed than frightened. He hated nothing more than being interupted during his performances.  
"You look foreign. I guess you've never heard of Tokyo's little wars of the nineties. I am Zoicite and you are about to die an extremely painful death for your lack of manners towards me."  
"Aww christ..."

* * *

**_End of Chapter 6_**


	7. Envy

_Author's note: Yay! It's my birthday on Saturday (30/11)! Just letting y'all know. Things begin to step up a gear between Chad, Mark and Raye in this chapter, so hold tight, this is gonna be highly explosive. I don't own any of the things mentioned on page 1 blah, blah, blah...._

**Chapter VII: Envy.**

"Serena. Serena! Come in, goddammit!" Raye had managed to hide herself in the small storage cupboard near the pit. She didn't get the time to find out who had just demolished down most of the back wall of the music hall, but she was almost certain that it was a Nega-creep judging by the reaction of the students.  
"Raye? What's up?" Serena answered her communicator. As usual she sounded alert upon answering.  
"Nega trouble. The university's music department's being attacked. I've tried to contact Lita and Mina, but they're in their lessons. Just get yourself and Darien here as fast as you can!"  
"Roger that. See you there." With that, Serena hung up while Raye peered through the vent to try and catch a glimpse of her opponant.  
"MARK! What're you doing?!" She gasped in horror as Mark found himself about to be blasted away by Zoicite. As she grabbed her pen and began her transformation Zoicite sent a thin bolt of concentrated enegy towards Mark.  
"MARK!!!" She screamed as she burst out of the cupboard as Sailor Mars. She dashed into the pile of dust expecting to trip over his corpse, but there was nothing but shattered pieces of the piano. She stepped out of the dust cloud to address the evil General.  
"It's been six years, Sailor Mars. Six whole years since your princess sent me to my untimely death. Judging by the fact that you are standing before me now, I guess that her majesty Queen Metallia's plans failed." A pained smirk emerged on his face.

"Your little organisation was nothing compared to what we defeated over the following two years. You were just a bit of handy training for us. You lot are nothing but weak, pathetic saps." The smirk faded from Zoicite's face. Sailor Mars was trying to act tough, but the uncertainty of whether Mark had just been turned to ash ate away at the back of her mind. "You're just pawns in this new, major plan. Why else would you be the first of the revived to attack us?" Zoicite was becoming angrier by the word. Sailor Mars got her left hand ready to call her sniper attack. Zoicite was long gone before she had even attempted this attack, so she would try and suprise him. "You're just pathetic. You were defeated so easily last time, and you will go down easy again. MARS FLAME SNIPER!!!" A bow and arrow consiting completely of fire formed in her hands. She took aim and let rip with a screaming bolt of fire. Zoicite's reflexes were top notch as he dived to his left trying to avoid the arrow. However, the arrow ripped through the the top of his right calf, staining his black trousers with a fair amount of his blood.  
"Damn. Missed again." She may have caught his right leg, but she had still missed her target. Ever since she transformed for the first time in four years the previous week her aim had beed very much off target. Zoicite clinged onto one of the chairs as he tried to pull himself up. Just at that moment a voice of a man screamed out from behind Sailor Mars.  
"PHOENIX BOMB!!!" She looked above her to see a huge fireball assuming the shape of a large bird flying. As Zoicite looked above the fire bird locked onto him and dived towards him. Much to Sailor Mars' suprise the bird crashed into the helpless Zoicite engulfing him in a column of flames. Sailor Mars looked behind her to see a tall man donned in black with a red stripe down either side of his clothing. He had short, straight black hair while his sunglasses shielded his identity. He raised a salute to her before seemingly bursting into flames and disappearing into thin air. Zoicite was now nothing but a large pile of ash. As she slowly made her way towards the ash a red rose embedded itself into one of the chairs. Sailor Mars simply groaned and shook her head.

"You're too late guys! Crisis over!" Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon jumped down in front of her.  
"You mean you defeated this guy on your own? I thought that the scouts always needed me to turn the trash into dust." Sailor Moon seemed very bemused as Sailor Mars transformed back into Raye.  
"No. Not on my own. Some other guy helped me. Don't forget that I can turn the trash to dust myself if I hit'em good." Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon transformed back into their civilian forms with confused looks on their faces.  
"Some other guy?"  
"Yeah. My sniper aim was a little off target so I ended up shooting Zoicite in the leg. I'm still not quite used to these fukus and stilettos again after the four years out. Just as he tried to get up this giant bird made of fire crashed into him and by the looks of things completely turned him to ash. It was awesome!" Darien took a step forward.  
"Did you see what he looked like?"  
"A bit. He was tall, a fair bit taller than me. He had dark hair and was wearing sunglasses. He wore black clothes with a red stripe down both sides. He didn't look japanese." Darien was concentrating, trying to see if he had ever seen someone of that description, but to no avail.  
"Doesn't ring a bell. Sorry. I'll ask Luna when we get home." Raye suddenly remembered something very important.  
"MARK!!! I gotta find him!" With that, Raye dashed out of the room to try and find him.

* * *

_Int. Apartment 211, Hiwaka view apartments - September 23rd 2002, 11:10 am._

All students from the music group had been sent home that day due to the lack of an avalible teaching space, as well as to allow students suffering from shock to recover. Mark was in his room programming while Chad was strumming his guitar along to rock songs on the TV. Chad turned the TV volume down as he got up to answer a knocking at the door. It was Raye.  
"Raye. What are you doing here?" She eyed him very sourly.  
"That's none of your fucking business Chad. Is Mark in?" Chad looked hurt by what she had just said.  
"Yeah, like, he's here. He's in-" Raye barged her way past him. "Raye! Wait!"  
"Don't you ever tell me what to do Chad!" She turned away from him. "Mark?"  
"Raye?" replied Mark from his room. He emerged from the hallway into the lounge. Raye ran over and hugged him.  
"Thank god you're alright! I thought you were destroyed by that guy's laser!" Mark put his arms round her. Chad was confused as to what exactly was going on. He was confused as to why Raye would embrace Mark in such a way even though he had supposedly only met her on her own once.  
"I managed to dive out of the way just in time." He jumped when Raye ran her hand down his left arm.  
"Oh, sorry. Are you okay?" She immediately moved her hand away.  
"Yeah. I've got a few cuts and bruises from the piano shrapnel, but I'm-" He was promptly interupted by Raye pulling his head towards hers and passionatley kissing him - all in front of Chad. Mark broke out of it immediately after realising that Chad was still in the room. Raye let go of him before walking towards the still-open door.  
"See ya later, Mark. You know where I am." said Raye in an extremely sexy tone of voice as she looked behind at Mark before smugly smirking at a shaking Chad as she slammed shut the apartment door behind her. "That, Chad, was a lesson in how to take your chances while they're still avalible." she thought to herself, pleased that she got one back on Chad while claiming Mark for her own.

"Dude, you have some serious explaining to do." Chad's voice was clearly quivering. What he had just seen was a complete system shock to him. He was not used to seeing Raye with another man, and he remembered how he had exploded in front of Darien when he found out about Raye's relationship with him two years ago. However, this was far, far worse. This was his new best friend.  
"Chad... My guess is as good as yours. I never knew she liked me..." Mark was telling the truth. She had dropped hints on their date, but she never actually said anything. Chad wasn't buying it.  
"Dude, cut the crap. Why did she come here just to kiss you?" Mark was slightly intimidated by Chad, but he knew he had to stand his ground.  
"I'm telling the truth damnit! Anyway, what's it to you?" He clenched his fists.  
"I don't want her to be messed around by some idiot she falls for who, like, doesn't have a clue about what she wants." Mark took serious offence.  
"You're tellin' me that I'm an idiot that doesn't know how to treat a lady?! Look at yourself mate! You had your chance, and what do you do with it? You sod off to Los Angeles leaving her so heartbroken that she tries to take her own life." Mark noticed a tear rolling down Chad's left cheek. "Don't you even see why she treats you like shit? You broke her heart big time. Just let it go, mate. Stop chasing things that you can't catch. You'll feel much better for it in the end." Chad was ready to seriously hurt Mark, but decided not to. It was useless trying constantly to win back Raye's attention, but he still hung on to that hope.   
"Dude, I'm going to my room to chill out. Don't disturb me and tell the other dudes not to either." Chad slowly walked away, his head hung low. Mark grabbed a beer and lay down on the sofa, reflecting upon this new situation.

* * *

_Int. Chiba residence - September 23rd 2002, midday._

"How'd it go?" Luna greeted Serena and Darien back from their callout.  
"Turns out we weren't needed." Luna looked very suprised at Darien. "Mars was helped out by some other guy who turned Zoicite to ash. We were hoping you would know who it was that helped her if we gave you a description."  
"Fire away." Luna was hoping that he was about to describe the missing Mars senshi from London.  
"She only caught a split-second glimpse of him, but he's fairly tall, has short black hair, wears sunglasses and dresses in black with a red stripe down either side of his clothes." Luna smiled.  
"I know who that is. That's the Mars knight, the english eqivalent of Sailor Mars. The English branch of Central is complaining that he left England without informing them. Artemis has been trying to track him down. I'll tell him as soon as I see him."  
"Shouldn't you inform central that he's here?" Serena sounded slightly anxious.  
"Yes, but I'll tell them to leave him alone. He has some very powerful and devistating attacks so he would prove a very valuble ally in this coming war. If what you're saying is true in the sense that Zoicite was turned to ash, I'm presuming that he used Phoenix Bomb, and extremely powerful attack. We need people like him if we are to even stand a chance." Serena looked very suprised.  
"Woah. This guy sounds awesome!"  
"Not only that, but he can also take the place of Amy as well. The Mars Knight carries around a pocket computer that he uses even in his civilian form. We don't know its specifications though. We're not even sure if it even uses the standard MoonOS system." replied Luna.  
"So, who is this Mars Knight in his civilian form?" asked Darien, hoping that this guy wasn't another gender-shifter like the starlights.  
"I don't know. We've been unable to contact London for the past few days. All I know is that he is male in his civilian form." Darien breathed a sigh of relief. He was always slightly freaked out by the starlights. "We mustn't forget that even though he has the one powerful attack, the Japanese sailor scouts are THE major fighters with powers unsurpassed by any other division since they are the reincarnations of the princesses of their respective planets. The other senshi scattered throughout Earth all had ties with the royal families of their planet in some way or another, but are not as powerful. I do believe that the Mars Knight was a prince from one of Mars' moons. I can't remember which one though." She turned away from the pair. "Anyway, I'd better go and see Artemis if he hasn't followed Mina to the university." She swiftly headed to the kitchen to leave through the cat-flap.

* * *

_Int. Hiwaka Shrine - 23rd September 2002, 1:15 pm._

Raye had allowed Mr. Yakama to leave early as she took over the duties of the temple once more. She was feeling very proud of herself for dealing a major blow to Chad. As she meditated in the main fire-reading room a cool breeze rippled her long, dark hair. She had always been fed up over the years of the men always making the move for her, so she had decided to play things differently. She had sensed from the start that Mark had feelings for her, so she used that to her advantage.  
"Raye. We need to talk." She smiled as she slowly got up and turned around to see Mark.  
"Nice to see you again, my friend." She slowly but very sexily walked towards him. Mark stayed focussed on her face.  
"That kiss earlier. What exactly was that for? Was that just to get back at Chad?" Mark looked deadly serious as she approached him further.  
"Isn't it obvious?" She stopped right in front of him. "I think you're cute, very cute Mark Davison, which is a huge honour considering that I dispise most men." Mark was becoming increasingly nervous. He was madly in love with her, but it was her that was making all of the moves.  
"Then why did you kiss me in front of Chad? The guy went mental afterwards!" Raye's smile turned into a devilish grin.  
"Just showing him what he's missing out on. Stop trying to play the innocent, Mark. I know all too well about your true feelings for me. The way you're acting nervously at this very moment. The way you embraced me under the stars last week. I can tell what you're thinking at this very moment." Mark was about to speak, but Raye simply shushed him as she put her finger over his lips. "You're thinking 'How does she know all this?'" She wrapped her left arm over his sholder and put her right hand behind his head. "Your answer," She pulled his head closer to hers. "I just do." With that, she kissed him once more. This time Mark didn't shake her off, instead he deepened the kiss. At that moment Raye had felt that she could finally say that she had a true love of her own. She could sense it. Mark, still very much suprised by it all, shared the same feeling. Somehow, even though he had known her for a very short time, he thought that her kiss felt all too familiar. It was seriously bugging him, but he simply shook it off before breaking the kiss.  
"So I guess we're official now, then." He had a greatful smile on his face.  
"I guess so, tiger." Raye still had her arms wrapped around him.  
"So, er, you wanna catch a movie this weekend, then?" He looked into her magnificent indigo eyes.  
"Sure. There's quite a few flicks I'd love to see."  
"Hey, sure. I'm buying the tickets if you're buying the snacks." Raye giggled, thankful that Serena wasn't coming along. She'd probably need a truckload of snacks just to get throught the movie.

The couple spent the next couple of hours in each others' company as they got to know each other better. Raye explained to Mark about Serena and her other friends and how she first met them, taking care not to let slip of her true identity. She edited some of her stories, especially about the time she first met Serena, because she had no doubt that there were some things that Mark would never believe in a million years, such as the busses disappearing into portals.  
"Don't get me wrong. Sometimes Serena can be a royal pain in the ass, but she's a very good friend that's always there for me, and she has a boyfriend that would do absolutely anything to keep her happy." Mark nodded his head in interest as Raye recalled anecdotes of herself and her eight friends.  
"What about that Lita? Is she always as weary to people as she was with me?"  
"Yeah, kinda. She's always had a lack of trust for some people, a bit like how I distrust most men. She's a lot like Amara, except she isn't a lesbian. No need to worry yourself, she'll probably grow to like you in time." chuckled Raye as Mark smiled.

"So, er, who is this Amy I keep hearing so much about, exactly?" Mark took his Palmtop PC from out of his pocket and booted it up as Raye began to speak.  
"Amy Mizuno. She's a very good friend of ours. As I said, I met her six years ago. She's a very intelligent girl, she always used to get top marks in all her subjects in school, well, maybe except for resistant materials, but you can't have it all." Raye paused and took a sip from her glass of water as Mark tapped the screen of his computer a few times. "She flew away to Germany about six months ago to train to become a doctor in Berlin. Her boyfriend, Greg, proposed to her a couple of weeks ago and they're thinking of returning to Tokyo for the wedding." She noticed the small hand-held computer that Mark was tapping.   
"Cool." replied Mark. Raye had recognised the design of it from somewhere before, but wasn't sure where. It looked similar to Amy's tiara computer console, but the colours were very much different. She had remembered Amy going on about it at one time, saying that the operating system for it was MoonOS or something like that. Technology had always confused Raye, so she didn't pay much attention to Amy.  
"Mark? Hope you don't mind me asking, but what does that computer run on?" She knew she sounded vague.  
"It runs on a battery." Raye looked slightly confused.  
"No, I didn't mean that. I meant what program does it run?" Mark raised his eyebrows in understanding.  
"Ah, the operating system. This baby runs a little-known system called MoonOS. This one's got MoonOS version 4.1 Mars." Bells started ringing in her head. _MoonOS_? She would definately have to double check on that. Raye stood up and smoothed down her top.  
"Cool. I just need to visit the bathroom. I'll be back in a few minutes." She walked out of the room, not going towards the bathroom but instead picked up the phone before dialling a German number.  
"Come on Amy. This is important..."  
"Urawa und Mizuno." Greg had picked up the other end. He sounded rather tired.  
"Hey, Greg. It's Raye." She took the phone into the kitchen so that Mark couldn't hear. "Is Amy there please? It's quite urgent."  
"Hey, sure. I'll just wake her up now." Raye could hear Greg put the phone down on the bedside table. "Amy? Wake up."  
"What is it?" Amy sounded pretty much exhausted like Greg.  
"Call for you. It's from Raye."  
"I only just got to sleep..." groaned Amy as Greg handed her the phone. "Hello?"  
"Hey Amy. I hope I wasn't just disturbing you two at all."  
"Nah. I'm just trying to get to sleep." Amy sounded embarrased. "Anyway, that's none of your business. It's quarter past one here."  
"Oh, sorry. I guess I never think about time zones." Giggled Raye quietly.  
"It's okay. I'm getting used to friends calling me in the early hours of the morning. Anyway, why did you call?"  
"A quick question about Sailor Mercury." There was a slight pause before Raye heard the clicking of a door in Amy's apartment.  
"Sorry about that. I just don't want Greg to hear. He's been a bit stressed because of the Nega problems here. He thinks that they're after him again. What d'ya want to know?" whispered Amy.  
"What operating system does your tiara computer use?" Amy seemed surprised by Raye's sudden interest in technology.  
"MoonOS, of course. That's the standard issue operating system for all Moon Kingdom alliance computers. I've recently upgraded mine to version 4.42 Mercury." Raye's suspicion began to grow. "I don't mean to be intrusive, but why do you ask?"  
"Nothing much. A new senshi's turned up on the block and we don't know his civilian identity." Raye paused before lowering her voice considerably. "I think I've just found him though."  
"I presume you're not talking about a Japanese Sailor Scout seeing that your new friend is male."  
"Yeah. I only caught a glimpse of the senshi, so I can't be certain where he's from. He's definately not Japanese though." Amy yawned once more.  
"Well, I can't go doing any research at this time of night, but keep our eye out. Don't drop yourself in it either though. If the guy you suspect turns out to be a normal civilian I can't bear to think about what will happen. Play it carefully."  
"Hey, thanks Amy. You go get your sleep. I'll try and call you earlier next time."  
"Yeah... anytime." Amy hung up before returning to bed. Greg had already fallen asleep in those few minutes she had been talking to Raye. Amy simply kissed him on the cheek before finally turning the lights out.

* * *

**_End Of Chapter 7_**


	8. Saturday Night at the Movies

_Author's Note: I don't own anything mentioned on page 1, not do I own Budweiser._

**Chapter VIII: Saturday Night at the Movies.**

_Int. Apartment 211, Hiwaka view apartments - __September 27th 2002, __6:30 pm._

It had been four days since Raye had captured Mark for herself in front of her jealous ex-boyfriend, and Mark and Chad had not spoken to each other even once. Jack had been doing his best to try and bring peace to the situation, but there was little success. The only thing he had successfully managed to do was to get them to sit on the same sofa, but that only intensified the divide between the pair. Chad was envious of Mark, but he only had himself to blame. Mark had gone to university for the other four days of that week to study Computing and to also get a bonus lesson in Music when the class was relocated to the smaller spare music hall. Chad stayed at home, claiming he was still shocked by monday's attacks even though that was the least of his problems.

It was saturday night and Mark was getting ready to take Raye on a date to the cinema. Chad knew nothing of this, so Mark had asked Jack to try and take Chad to a baseball match or a bar. Understanding fully the consequences of Chad finding out about Mark's date, Jack happily obliged to take Chad to a few games of pool at a bar at the bottom of the hill. Sarah was lying on the sofa minding her own business, watchng TV with a glass of red wine in her hand. Dressed in a black suit with a white shirt and blue and white tie, Mark emerged from his room, where he had just spent the last hour smartening up, into the lounge, where he instantly grabbed the attention of Sarah.  
"Ya look sharp t'night Mark." Sarah took her legs off the sofa as Mark sat down.   
"Thanks. I'm picking Raye up from the temple at seven, so I've got a bit of time on my hands." Sarah started to laugh as she looked down at his trousers.  
"Cool. Ya flag's flyin' at 'alf mast though." Clearly embarrased, Mark quickly pulled his zip up.  
"Er, whoops..." His face turned as red as a beetroot.  
"Good job I spotted that. I just saved ya from being embarrased in front of ya girlfriend." she chuckled as she took another sip of her wine.  
"Thanks." Mark headed off to the kitchen before returning with a glass of lemonade in his hand.

"Mark?" Sarah sounded slightly nervous.  
"Yeah?" He sat back down on the sofa.  
"I need to ask you a favour. Can you keep a secret?" Mark looked at Sarah. She looked extremely anxious.  
"Yeah, sure. What is it?" There was a brief pause before Sarah finally found the words she wanted to say.  
"It's about Jack..." Mark nodded his head as Sarah paused for thought once again. "You musn't tell anyone this, especially not Jack."  
"I promise. Scouts' honour." replied Mark, smiling.  
"About Jack. I..." She paused again as she stared into her glass of wine. "I love him..." Mark didn't seem too surprised.  
"You mean you two aren't already a couple? I thought you were, I mean, you two always go out together when it's your or his turn to get the shopping in."  
"It's a mutual agreement. We've know each other the longest out of the four of us here, and I've loved him ever since I first saw him. I just haven't been able to tell anyone about it until now." Tears were beginning to form in her eyes.  
"If you want my advice, the sooner you let him know the better. He's a very good man and a good friend to me. The best thing I can suggest is that me and Chad clear out of here for one night while you two have a romantic meal or summit'. If you tell all afterwards, I don't think there's any way he could refuse you. Play it tactfully." Tears rolling down her face, she looked up at Mark.  
"Are you sure?" Her voice was quivering.  
"Certain. If you prove to man that you love him enough, he's putty in your hands. Some guys are very cautious when it comes to saying that they love you, but don't be fooled. Go for it." Sarah finished her wine before giving Mark a huge hug.  
"Thanks." With that, Sarah let go of Mark as he stood up and left to meet Raye.

* * *

_Int. Southside Bar, Cherry Hill - September 27th 2002, 7:00 pm._

It was seven o'clock and Jack and Chad had been spending the past hour in the local bar. Chad had no idea why Jack had only invited him alone, but he had a few things he wanted to get off his chest. He had already explained to Jack about the whole Raye situation and how he was feeling now that his flatmate Mark was going out with his ex-girlfriend who he still deeply loved. The pair were in the middle of a game of American Pool.  
"I personally don't blame her, but why this divide between yourself and Mark?" Jack struck the cueball breaking the pack of balls. Chad stepped up to the table.  
"Because he's, like, with my girl. Simple." He pocketed the 3 ball. "Spots."  
"Yeah, but she ain't goin out with ya no more. How can she be 'your' girl?" Chad missed a ball sitting right over a pocket. He slowly looked up at Jack, slightly angered.  
"I've known her for a long time. I was the closest person she had apart from her grandfather, and when he died I was her shoulder to cry on." Chad stepped away from the table. "Two shots."  
"But ain't it her decision who she goes out with?" Jack set up a ball to be readily pocketed as Chad took a sip of his beer.  
"True, but I don't, like, see what she sees in him." Jack pocketed the 14 ball while trying to think very carefully about what to say next.  
"I don't know either but all I'm askin' is that ya try an' get along with Mark. There's no escaping each other, so why not just get along?" There was an eerie pause between Jack and Chad before Chad spoke.  
"I'll try. I'm not, like, guaranteeing anything though. What ya, like, havin'? I'm gettin' this round."  
"Mine's a Bud." Jack pocketed the 11 ball as Chad walked towards the bar.

Chad had reached the bar and was ready to order when he saw two familiar faces sitting near the other end of the bar: Amara and Michelle.  
"Aww crap..." he thought to himself, stooping down in the hope that they wouldn't spot him. He feared the fact that Amara was very tomboyish and very strong. He had seen her make grown men scream in pain as she protected her girlfriend Michelle from them. She was almost unreal, and the last thing Chad needed was a confrontation with her about Raye.  
"What d'ya want mac?" Chad quickly looked up at the bartender.  
"Oh, like, two Buds please." He quickly glanced in the direction of Amara once more.  
"Comin' right up." Chad waited for the drinks while he carefully glanced at the pair. Things just seemed to get from bad to worse as he saw another familiar couple enter from the other end of the room. He instantly recognised the golden bunches atop the lady in the long black dress and the face of the man holding her hand. It was Serena and Darien.  
"Damnit! Not them as well!" he thought to himself as he began to panic. There had always between friction between himself and Darien, even before he discovered that Darien had been seeing Raye behind his back. He knew that Darien had dated Raye before he had properly met Serena, and that didn't bother him too much since he didn't start working in the temple until a good six months afterwards, but finding out that they had been seeing each other underneath his nose was Earth-shattering for him.  
"Here's ya drinks. That'll be 1020 yen please." Chad swiftly handed over the money, grabbed the two bottles and jogged towards the pool table where Jack was standing. He was in a very tight spot. He wasn't certain, but if Darien still had feelings for Raye then he was in serious trouble. For all he knew Darien could turn violent, despite beng a man of honour. He knew that it was a mistake to fly out to Los Angeles last year, but he was beginning to wonder whether or not it was a bigger mistake returning to Tokyo.  
"Dude, your beer." Chad handed Jack one of the bottles as he grabbed his cue to take his shot.

* * *

_Ext. Electric Multiplex Cinema, Tokyo Electric District - 27th September 2002, 7:30 pm._

It was yet another perfectly clear night over Tokyo. Mark and Raye had taken a taxi to the cinema since it was too far to walk, heading straight through the heart of the overcrowded Electric District high street. Mark gazed in amazement at all the magnificently bright lights and neon signs on the building. The street where the American messenger's attack had occured the week before was still cordoned off, yellow diggers at work lifting away the rubble lining the road. Raye thought nothing of the Electric District. She was never one for electronic gadgets and gizmos, plus she had lived in Tokyo all her life so she was used to it. Soon enough the Taxi arrived at the cinema, a huge structure, bigger than any of the cinemas Mark had ever been to in England. Added to the fact that it was lit to the rafters with neon lights and signs, Mark was amazed. Mark paid the fare before being joined by Raye to decide which film to watch.  
"So, what d'ya wanna see?" Mark couldn't make heads from tails on some of the film titles. He could speak the language, but he wasn't as good a reader of Japanese. He was relying on Raye to pick something good to watch.  
"Hmm... Let me see..." Mark stood back as Raye bobbed about glancing at the listings on the wall. "A-ha! Do you wanna see 'Eternally Broken'?"  
"What's it about?" Mark had a completely blank look on his face.  
"It's a romantic film. A couple in love are cursed so that they cannot live together, so they both try to break the curse individually. I've heard it's quite sad. I love sad romantic films." Mark saw no other option.  
"'Eternally Broken' it is then." Raye kissed him on the cheek as they walked to the box office inside hand in hand.

The queue for the box office was fairly large, mostly consisting of die-hard Otakus grabbing their tickets for a new animated movie which had received rave reviews, some even in cosplay as seveal characters from shows. Much to the fright of Raye she discovered that some had even decided to dress up as Negaverse soldiers. It had only dawned on her that they too were only cosplayers after she noticed a wicked lady lookalike and a pair of Ann and Alan lookalikes posing for a photo. She had her hand in her black handbag, ready to grab her transformation pen at any moment, but she realised that she was acting foolishly and closed her bag immediately.  
"Freaks. Why do they bother dressing like anime characters?"

The inside of the multiplex was enormous, the walls were a shade of dark claret red, the polished floor a dark blue and bright red and green neon lights and shapes flashing above them. Also above them were several TVs suspended from a metal frame, all showing trailers from movies playing at the cinema. It was a fair while before they bought their tickets, so they had missed the showing they wanted to see. However, they didn't mind waiting only half an hour for the next one.  
"I'll go get the snacks. You waiting here?" Raye sat herself down on the bench in the foyet as Mark took his wallet out from his pocket.  
"Yeah. I'll have orangeade and one of those small tubs of sweets. Are we sharing a large popcorn?"   
"Okay then. I'll see ya in a few minutes, then." Raye sat back and stared at all the cosplayers, freaked out by those who dressed as Negaverse soldiers, thinking to herself how much they didn't look like the real thing.  
"Heh. Call yourself Queen Beryl? You look nothin' like her!" She thought to herself as a Queen Beryl lookalike walked towards the escalators, followed by three men dressed as her generals. "You guys don't look too good yourselves." It was then that a horrible thought hit her head. "_Three generals_? I always thought she had four cronies following her around." She carefully looked at the three men in the matching black uniforms. No-one was dressed as Zoicite. "They couldn't be... Could they?" She paused for a few moments before shaking her head. "Snap out of it, Raye. They're just cosplayers. No way would they turn up in their Negaverse uniform in a public place. They're just jerks that have no idea how to spend their saturday night."

Mark was now near the front of the snack queue. Whistling to himself as he waited patiently, he suddenly felt a vibration in his inside left jacket pocket. It was his palmtop. As he took it out of his pocket a red clock symbol appeared in the corner of the screen before an amber warning triangle appeared in the bottom corner of the screen. He glanced behind him at the Queen Beryl cosplayers moving up the escalator before the guy at the counter grabbed his attention.  
"Hi. How may I help you?" Mark put the palmtop back in his jacket pocket.  
"Hi. One large popcorn, one medium orangeade, one medium cola and a small tub of mini-chocs please." He glanced towards the escalator once again, but the four were gone.  
"Coming right up." Mark took out his palmtop once again, but the amber warning triangle had disappeared. He glanced over at Raye, who was also looking at the escalator.  
"That's 1600 Yen please." Mark put the palmtop back before swiftly giving the cashier the money and grabbing the food and carefully barging his way through the crowds to reach Raye.  
"You okay?" Raye seemed suprised by Mark's sudden appearence.  
"Yeah. Just some people that caught my eye." She stood up before straightening out her ruby red dress and grabbing the carton of orangeade and the tub of chocolates. "Well, let's go."

* * *

_Int. Cherry Hill Arcade - September 27th 2002, 7:15 pm._

Luna had been trying desparately trying to contact London all week, but with little luck. The closest she had managed to get was Berlin, and even the Germans had been having trouble contacting London, that added to the fact that she always had a hard time talking to her German counterpart. Luna struggled intensely with the German language, so all conversations took place with broken English. Very rarely did the entire message get across.  
"Come on. This should've been fixed ages ago." Luna was still as frustrated as ever with Central's technical team.  
"You have reached Moon Kingdom Earth, London branch. Please state who you with to talk to." stated the innocent-looking arcade machine.  
"Yes!" Luna thought to herself, glad that she could finally clear things up once and for all. "I'd like to speak to Ganymede, please." The word 'CONNECTING...' appeared on screen in large orange letters on the dark blue background. A few seconds later the screen flickered before the image of a grey tabby appeared on it.  
"Hi Luna, long time no see."  
"Good morning Ganymede, I do believe." Chuckled Luna as Ganymede yawned.  
"Yeah. Answering a call at quarter past seven is not my idea of a sunday morning." Ganymede obviously seemed tired.  
"It's about your missing Mars senshi. Myself and Artemis have been trying to contact you for the past week or so, but comms to London were down." Ganymede perked up upon hearing about the Mars senshi.  
"Have you found him? Where is he?"  
"We have a hunch. We just need you to confirm the name of his civilian identity. What is it?" Ganymede sat down once again.  
"Oh, his civ name. It's Mark Davison. Why d'ya wanna know?" A broader smirk emerged on Luna's face.  
"I know exactly where he is at this moment. However, you must promise not to come after him if I do tell you. If you do, you may end up tipping the future on it's head. The last thing anyone wants to do is upset destiny." Ganymede closed her eyes for thought.  
"Okay. I promise not to tell central. I will have to tell Anna though, she has a right to know. Mark was her closest friend." Ganymede clicked a button as 'SECURE CONNECTION' appeared in green on the bottom of the screen.  
"He's with us. He's been spotted twice as the Mars knight. Our Sailor Scouts have got to know him well in their civilian forms, but I don't think any of them know that he's the Mars knight. He might have saved Sailor Jupiter in an attack, but we can't be certain who it was that saved her."  
"So, er, why can't we get him? He's really left London Central in a bit of a pickle."  
"Two reasons. A, we need him because we're in the middle of a Negaverse revival here. He's already proven his worth by turning Zoicite to a pile of ash, so he might be very worthful if we're to fight all of our previous enemies in such a short timeframe. B, he's romantically involved with our Mars senshi, Raye Hino. I've been getting strange vibes whenever they're together and I'm around. I felt them when he was looking after her after the attack on the electric district. This might have something to do with destiny, so not even I want to get involved." Ganymede looked saddened.  
"Oh." She looked at the floor. "I'll tell Anna the bad news later. Thanks for the news."  
The screen flickered once more before turning black. Luna lept off the machine and strolled into the darkness.

* * *

_Int. Southside Bar, Cherry Hill - September 27th 2002, 8:00 pm._

For the past hour Chad had been feeling very nervous. Nervous that Amara was at the bar. Nervous that Serena was talking to Amara and Michelle. Nervous that Darien was with Serena. Things were becoming tricky. He and Jack were playing their final game before calling it quits.  
"So, like, that's the meaning of life for surfers." stated Chad as he broke the pack. He looked up only to see Darien and Amara heading towards the pool tables. "Oh shit..." He froze as they came closer. It was inevitable that Darien would spot him.

"Amara, set 'em up. I've got a score to settle." Amara glanced in the direction of Darien's view and saw for herself what he was talking about.  
"That piece of crap. What's he doin' back here?"  
"My thoughts exactly." Darien walked over towards the table where a bewildered Chad stood.  
"Darien." Chad sounded sour, keeping his ground.  
"Chad. Why d'ya bother showing your face around here again?" Darien was still approaching him.  
"Gettin' an education, dude. Why else?" Darien kept his calm although his rage was building.  
"I dunno. Maybe because you want a certain woman you drove to suicide back in your life?" Chad had to stay tough yet calm.  
"Raye? I'm, like, over her. My only two loves are, like, surfin' and music." He seriously hoped that Darien had just fallen for his white lie.  
"You'd better be tellin' the truth, Chad. You lay a finger on her and we'll all be down on you like a ton of bricks. You understand?" Darien eyed him ever-so-bitterly, but Chad just smiled. He was beginning to gain control somehow.  
"What's the use? She's already, like, taken for. She's got a boyfriend, and I have to, like, live with him." Darien stepped back as Chad looked back at Jack. "Dude, I forfeit. Let's, like, blow this joint." Jack simply nodded as the pair left the bar. Darien was fuming. Not only had Chad got the better of him somehow, but Chad had got the better of him in front of his girlfriend and her friends. Nethertheless, he simply stepped up to the table to take his shot.

* * *

_Ext. Electric Multiplex Cinema screen 14, Tokyo Electric District - 27th September 2002, 8:30 pm._

Mark and Raye had been watching their movie for just over half an hour. Raye had lead Mark to the middle of the back row, the typical sitting place for lovers at the movies. Arms behind each other's back, Raye was almost in tears from the start as the story of the young couple separated by a curse unfolded.  
"I just don't understand it. Why did this happen to us? Why on earth was I destined to find that damn crystal?"  
"Taka, I don't know. All I can suggest is to find out what the curse does and how to break it. Do you have the crystal with you?"  
"Yes. Here."  
"I'll analyse this. You go to the city library and see what you can find about the curse of the Sayitonen."  
"Thanks. If this curse ever breaks, I-"  
Raye and Mark jumped as the film suddenly stopped. All was pitch black as people wondered what had happened. Suddenly a bright blue aurora formed behind the screen before a catastrophic explosion blew away the first few rows of seats. Screaming in the pitch black darkness, people ran as fast as their legs could take them into what they hoped was the exit. Raye had ducked down, transformation pen at the ready. However, to her right she noticed a bright red light. Mark had just pulled out a necklace from underneath his shirt. She stared at him, wide-eyed with amazement as he screamed out "MARS KNIGHT SOLESTIAL TRANSFORMATION!!!" What she saw was all too similar to her own transformation. He turned into a white silhouette, red sparks of light engulfing him until after one final burst of blinding red light, he had transformed into the same guy that had turned Zoicite into ash earlier in the week.  
"No way... It can't be..." Raye was totally stunned. Her boyfriend was a senshi. Not only that, but he was also a senshi of Mars. After pausing for a moment she realised she still had her pen in her hand. "Oh crap. I almost forgot. MARS STAR POWER MAKE-UP!!!" She stood up as she completed her transformation to Sailor Mars, realising what she had just dropped herself in.

"Oh shit..." Right before her just below the now obliterated screen stood Queen Beryl. Queen Beryl and three of her Generals. She immediately ducked down before whipping out her communicator.  
"Calling all Scouts! Calling all Scouts, both inner and outer! We got a warzone here at the Electric District. Queen Beryl and her three cronies are attacking screen 14! Repeat, Queen Beryl is back!!! Over!" She knew she stood no chance against her alone. She remembered being killed by Berryl's army while protecting Sailor Moon six years ago. It was the Silver Crystal that had brought her and her fellow inner scouts back to life afterwards, although she only remembered the battle over a year later. All she could do at the moment was to try and get away, buying some time for herself and her fellow Scouts.  
"Sailor Mars." She jumped as she heard a voice to her side. It was the Mars Knight. "We need to get out of here and stay safe until the other scouts arrive."  
"Easy for you to say. The exits are near the front. There's no way we could survive if they spotted us." The Mars Knight just smiled.  
"I've got a plan."

* * *

**_End of Chapter 8._**


	9. Discovery

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything mentioned on page 1. Full stop. Also, [POSSIBLE SPOILER] I'm not too certain how the senshi came back to life at the end of series 1 in the Japanese version, but judging by some of the episode descriptions, I'm presuming it was the Silver Crystal. Apologies to those that haven't seen the end of series 1._

**Chapter IX: Discovery.**

_Int. Southside Bar, Cherry Hill - September 27th 2002, 8:35 pm._

"Eight ball, corner pocket." Amara had suprisingly gained the upper hand on Darien in their game and was ready to seal the victory. "Get ready to buy the next round of drinks." She lined up the shot and was about to hit the cueball when she was distracted by the siren of her communicator flailing away, causing her to completely mis-hit the cueball, sending it flying off the table.  
"BASTARD!!!" she cried out as grabbed her communicator from her pocket in rage. Her feeling of anger was replaced by confusion as she read the message on screen. "Darien, who's Queen Beryl?"  
Darien simply froze. He had realised long ago that even though Queen Beryl and her elder, Queen Metallia, were only the first of the evil forces that the army of the Moon Kingdom had to face, had it not have been for the Silver Crystal the scouts would never have been brought back to life.

Serena, who also looked mortified alongside the confused Michelle, immediately ran out of the bar, followed by Michelle, Darien and Amara. With no time to lose, the four grabbed the nearest taxi to the cinema.  
"Will someone please tell me who this Queen Beryl is PLEASE?!" Amara was becoming frustrated by not knowing who this enemy was. The outers had less fighting experience than the inner senshi in this current lifetime, and had never fought many of the earlier battles. She had heard Berryl's name mentioned in many conversations, but didn't actully know who she was.  
"I don't think you wanna know, Amara." replied Serena soberly. "You'll see for yourself when you get there." Amara became even more enfuriated.  
"Why not tell us who we're up against before-" Amara was quietened by Serena, who pointed at the taxi driver behind Michelle.  
"Some saturday night this has turned out to be." grumbled Amara, Michelle holding her hand.

* * *

_Int. Kino residence - September 27th 2002, 8:35 pm._

Hotaru's parents were out of town that weekend, so Lita had kindly voulenteered to look after her. Hotaru was feeling angry at the fact that even though she was 16, her parents didn't trust her to look after the house on her own. However, it didn't seem so bad when she found out she could stay at her friend's house. That night Lita had invited Mina for a girl's night in. They were in the middle of watching an horror movie on cable, snacks at the ready.  
"Where do we hide now? That murderer could be anywhere!"  
"Exactly. We can't hide. We gotta get out of this place pronto!"  
"Yeah, easier said than- BEEP BEEP BEEP!"  
The girls almost jumped out of their skins as the calling sound of their communicators shocked them to the core after that moment of tension.  
"Holy crap! What was that?" Mina looked bemused as the other three girls pulled out their communicators.  
"No... She's back already?..." Lita was almost in tears, very unusual for a girl of her tough personality.  
"Who? Who's back?" Mina rushed over to see what the fuss was about. As she glanced at the message on Lita's screen she too froze. "Beryl..." She took a deep breath after a moment of thought. Bloody memories of being torn limb from limb underneath a tundra of ice by Berryl's cronies in the first battle after protecting princess Serenity from the clutches of death flooded to her head, but she knew some action had to be taken.  
"Lita! Snap out of it! We need to get there before she causes any major damage!" She shook Lita to grab her attention. "This is Tokyo, not the Arctic! We've got a hundred and twenty-five million people's lives on the line this time, not just our own! We've gotta transform now! LITA!" Mina let go of Lita as the four grabbed their pens and began their transformations.  
"Follow me. The cinema's only a few blocks from here." Sailor Jupiter lead the other three scouts out of the house as they raced away into the red evening sky.

* * *

_Int. Electric Multiplex Cinema screen 14, Tokyo Electric District - 27th September 2002, 8:35 pm._

"Okay, wiseguy. What's the big idea?" Raye was angering by the second, trying to hide her fear. She remembered almost perfectly her last meeting with Beryl, being the last of the Scouts apart from Sailor Moon to face her gruesome death. She was honestly terrified, but she knew she had to mask those fears.  
"We distract them." replied the Mars Knight, tapping the screen of his computer a few times. "I'll just scan 'em for weaknesses first." The Mars Knight slowly but carefully held his computer above the seats in front of him, one hand on his sunglasses.  
"Okay, but how exactly do we distract them without getting our asses kicked?" Sailor Mars could see the stats of her foes flash past in the Knight's sunglasses.  
"I'm trying to figure that out myself. Hmmm... Got it!" whispered the Knight, putting his computer away. "They're not too nimble on their feet according to this, so I think we can distract them enough if we double-team and combine one of our attacks. Something that will create a shower of fire." The pair stayed silent while thinking, interupted only by the sound of Beryl.  
"We know you're in here Sailor Mars. Give yourself up now and tell us where we can find Sailor Moon and her precious Tuxedo brat or we will kill you and make certain that you can never be revived!"  
"You said a shower of fire." The Knight nodded at Sailor Mars. "What was the name of that attack you did to kill Zoicite?"  
"Phoenix bomb. Why d'ya ask?" Sailor Mars smiled. She had just realised how to get herself and the Mars Knight out alive.  
"Would it work if I combined my Mars Celestial Surround with your Phoenix Bomb attack? If I'm right it shoud send a torrent of fireballs crashing down on them."  
"It's worth a try. On three we'll cast the attacks" The senshi knelt back to back as the Sailor Mars began the countdown.  
"One... Two... Three!" The pair jumped up and cast their attacks.  
"DOUBLE TEAM MARS CELESTIAL SURROUND!!!"  
"DOUBLE TEAM PHOENIX BOMB!!!"  
A stream of flames emerged from the Mars Knight's hands as eight Japanese symbols began to surround Sailor Mars. Those eight symbols burst into eight large balls of energy which then flew off into the newly-formed giant fire bird flying above them. Queen Beryl instantly saw the pair casting the attack. She was fuming with anger.  
"There! At the back! GET THEM NOW!!!" Her three generals ran up the aisles but were cut short when the phoenix split into hundreds of fireballs which homed in on them and Beryl.  
"Now's our chance! Let's get out of here!" The Mars Knight pointed at Malachite who was blocking their exit, causing several of the fireballs to crash into him, sending him flying into a nearby wall. Sailor Mars and the Mars Knight jumped over the balcony before them, landing in the gangway. Without looking behind them, they ran out of the exit and out of the cinema complex, luring the Queen and her generals into open space.

"Now we've just gotta wait for the others to arrive and hope they get here before Beryl bursts outta this place. Anyway, who do you think you are using a copy of my Fire Bird Strike?"  
"Not a copy, mine's a more powerful version of your attack. You could even argue that you're copying my attack. Anyway, I think that's the least of our problems at the moment." Sailor Mars was ready to hit him on the head before she was interupted.  
"Who's the guy, Mars?" Sailor Mars and the Mars Knight turned around to see Sailor Moon, Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune and Tuxedo Mask.  
"I'm the Mars Knight. I don't think this an ideal time to introduce myself though." He shook the hands of the three Scouts and Tuxedo Mask.  
"Charmed. Do you know anything about Beryl, Sailor Mars?" Tuxedo Mask was trying to peer into the building, looking out for the evil Queen.  
"She's not alone. She's got three of her generals with her. As far as I know, if the other scouts turn up soon we're out numbering them by over two to one."  
"How strong are they?" Sailor Moon seemed very worried. Even though the numbers were on her side as opposed to her one-on-one battle against Beryl with the help of the souls of the inner senshi, they wouldn't stand a chance if the Americans had increased her power. However, it had been a very long time since that first battle and the senshi had gained more powers and were seemingly wiser. It was almost impossible to predict how the battle would end. The pure white wings on Sailor Moon's back twitched with anxiety.  
"Very strong offencively, but not very nimble." The Mars Knight took out his computer once again, the data streaming past through his sunglasses. "If we can keep moving and hit her and her generals hard, I think it should be over relatively quickly. It could be over instantly if you harness the power of your Silver Crystal."  
"The Silver Crystal's out of the question. If that goes wrong the effect can wipe out an area about half the size of China. If I use it and it fails, the entire Japanese population dies." Sailor Moon turned towards Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune. "We're just gonna have to hit her with what we've got and hope I can finish her with the sceptre elimination. That and hope that the Yanks failed to revive Metalia." Sailor Uranus had had enough of being left in the dark.

"Okay, can someone please tell me now who this Beryl person is?" All of a sudden a huge explosion rocked the foyer of the cinema, causing the glass of the entirely-windowed front of the cinema to shatter and fly for several hundred metres. The senshi did their best to shield themselves from the blast. From out of the smoke and rubble emerged a woman with long red hair wearing a purple dress, a large purple scepter in her hand. By her side were three men in black general's outfits. The woman was laughing.  
"That's Queen Beryl." explained Sailor Moon, horrified with what lay ahead. Sailor Uranus stared at what remained of the front of the multiplex in disbelief.  
"Hey, sorry we're late. What's the plan?" The senshi turned around to see Sailors Venus, Jupiter and Saturn.  
"Thank goodness you're all here." Sailor Moon smiled. "Now that everone's here It's ten Vs. four here, so two Scouts per piece of Negatrash. The Mars knight says they're powerful, but not very quick, so if you can dodge their attacks and out-manouver them we're in with a good chance."  
"What're you guys waiting for? Let's get this thing over with!" Before Sailor Moon had a chance to say anything else, Sailors Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto dashed past them, constantly changing directions. Sailors Mars, Neptune and Uranus, the Mars Knight and Tuxedo Mask joined them while Sailor Moon took to the air. Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus took on Malachite, Sailor Saturn and Sailor Jupiter took on Jadeite, the Mars Knight and Sailor Mars charged towards Nephrite while Sailor Venus and Tuxedo Mask took aim at Beryl, Sailor Moon floating in the air ready to eliminate any of the weakened generals, maybe even Queen Beryl herself.

The generals had prepared well. When Sailor Uranus attacked Malachite he simply sent a ball of energy in her path even though he was weakened from his encounter with the two Mars senshi earlier, leaving Sailor Uranus powerless to avoid it. He laughed as Sailor Uranus fell to the floor, a few cuts and scrapes on her arms from her own attack backfiring. The Mars knight tried to enclose Nephrite in a circle of fire with his firewall attack, only to have it sent right back at him by a beam of energy hitting the fireball. He dived out of the way of the returning fireball, knowing that he would have been trapped and seriously hurt had the attack hit him. Behind him a huge column of fire rose up into the night sky as the fireball hit the ground.  
"Damn, that was close." Nephrite wrestled the Mars knight back to the ground as he tried to get up. Sailor Mars had spotted that Malachite was open after he had knocked Sailor Uranus for six and was about to attack him, not knowing of the Knight's dispostion. Nephrite had a small ball of energy in his right hand, ready to fire into the Knight's face at any moment.  
"I don't recognise you. Who are you?" The Mars Knight only frowned, gritting his teeth. "Tell me! I command you!!!" The ball of energy in his hand grew with his rage.  
"Your worst nightmare." The Mars Knight saw in the corner of his left eye Sailor Mars dashing towards them, her firey bow and arrow in hand. All he needed was to distract Nephrite for long enough and give his girlfriend a good aim. He spat in the general's face, freeing one of his arms in the process which he used to divert the blast of energy from the general's hand. He looked towards Sailor Mars who was taking aim. "Goodbye."

Sailor Mars let rip with the screaming arrow. It had seemed like the arrow had been hurtling through the air for a lifetime as it edged closer and closer towards the horrified general. The Knight lay down flat as the arrow hit the general in the head with a sickening thud - dead centre between his eyes. The Knight lifted the corpse off himself as the general's black blood streamed from the hole in his head. Sailor Mars reached down to help her boyfriend back onto his feet.  
"Nice shot. I owe ya."  
"They don't call me the flame sniper for nothing." Sailor Mars looked modest as the Mars Knight dusted himself off.  
"Which one now?" The Mars Knight scanned around for the other three enemies. It seemed like Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Venus had the slight advantage over the slow, weakened Queen Beryl although Sailor Venus' face was covered in blood, impossible to tell if it was her own. Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Saturn seemed to be holding their ground against Jadeite, although it seemed the general was about to step up a gear at any moment. The Mars Knight was oblivious to the fact that right behind him stood Malachite, Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus collapsed on the ground nearby.  
"Damnit! Uranus! Neptune!" Sailor Mars clasped her hands together, ready to attack Malachite.  
"Finally, a familiar face." Malachite spoke with an intimidating, sinister tone of voice, kicking the unconscious body of Sailor Neptune as he approached the Mars senshi. "Sailor Mars, I do believe." He looked at the Mars Knight. "And she has a friend with her." With the speed of lightning he raised his right hand out in front of the Knight, casting purple waves of energy in his direction. Within a second the Knight had been propelled over a hundred metres backwards, hitting the ground with a loud thud.  
"What the...?" Sailor Mars had never known Malachite to be so powerful and effective in his attacks. Not only had he grounded two of the Scouts, including arguably the toughest Scout Sailor Uranus, but he had just sent another senshi flying.  
"A little attack the Americans taught me. Pretty effective, wouldn't you say?" Malachite grinned as Sailor Mars looked at the Mars Knight, who was struggling to get back onto his feet. She didn't say anything else, only running as fast as she could, constantly changing direction.  
"Shit, this guy's tough!" She thought to herself as she ran towards the Kninght. She looked behind her to see where Malachite was. He was gone. "Where the hell is he now?" Above her, Sailor Moon was dealing the final blow to Jadeite after Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Saturn delt a deadly series of suprise attacks on a confused Jadeite. Tuxedo Mask had been sent flying into Sailor Venus, whos Fuku had now become bloodstained, by Queen Beryl. Now that she only had one general left, she knew she had to start upping the ante and deal some more serious blows to Sailor Venus and Tuxedo Mask. It was then that Sailor Mars screamed as she felt an extreme surge of pain through her back before being knocked flat. It had felt like she had just been hit by a Juggernaught truck.

"It seems the tables have turned, Sailor Mars." Sailor Mars felt excruciating pain as Malachite kicked her in the ribs a few times before flipping her over. "You will obey my orders otherwise you will die."  
"Don't try to scare me, bastard." Coughed Sailor Mars, her arms badly cut. "I've faced death twice in this lifetime alone, and to tell you the truth, I don't fear death anymore." Sailor Mars smirked, still in pain.  
"Well, I guess you won't mind me doing it again then." A glowing ball of dark energy began to grow in his hand, ready to obliterate Sailor Mars.  
"Be my guest." She noticed that in the corner of her eye that Berly was being attacked by seven of the senshi.  
"MALACHITE!!!" Screamed Beryl as the general jumped up and ran towards the senshi attacking the evil Queen. "WE GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE!!!" A blinding purple light engulfed the senshi as the Queen teleported away from the battle.  
"BERYL! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" As the purple light faded, Malachite looked back at the grinning yet bloody Sailor Mars. "This isn't over. We shall be back." The same purple aurora began to surround Malachite as he burst into a glowing purple orb, which zoomed off into the sky.

* * *

_Int. Apartment 211, Hiwaka view apartments - September 27th 2002, 9:00 pm._

"Good morning. We're just getting breaking news within the past few minutes that there has been a major explosion at a cinema complex in Tokyo, Japan. There's no exact details about what has happened or whether there are many casualties, but there was a premier of a popular Japanese move being held there that night, so it likely that there have been a few deaths. This has come just a week after a bomb exploded in a shopping centre in Tokyo's electric district, which no-one has yet claimed responsibility for. We're also hearing uncomfirmed reports that Japanese supreheroines the Sailor Scouts have been sighted around the time of the explosion, some eyewitnesses even claiming that they were fighting forces that were last seen over six years ago. We'll bring you more as we get it. Now back to tonight's main story. The prime minister Tony Blair last night found -"  
"Ugh. Terrorists. Don't tell me Bin Laden's moved to Japan." Sarah had been spending the past two hours watching television with nothing else to do, waiting for Jack to return so that she could tell him her true feelings. She had just been watching a British news channel. "Last thing I need is a terror campaign in the city I live in." She decided to go channel-hopping, trying to avoid such depressing news on a saturday night.  
"Call my name and I'll be there, there's nothing like the laughter that we share, -"  
"And you shall shed tears of scarlet! -"  
"What is the Matrix? -"  
"How long will Mr. Shakehandsman shake hands with -" Sarah turned off the TV and lay down on the sofa.  
"Damn, when are ya gonna be back Jack?"

The door clicked and opened as a slightly drunk Jack and Chad stumbled through.  
"What time d'ya call this?" Sarah was slightly angry at Jack's state.  
"C'mon Sarah, it's saturday! Lets party! Put some of that dance stuff on!"   
"Heh, you're pissed and you know it Jack." laughed Sarah.  
"Too damn right!" Chad stuck in a random CD from the rack. Some heavy dance music started to play. Jack picked Sarah off the sofa and started to dance with her. Chad just nodded his head to the beat as the mood in the apartment livened instantly.  
"Jack, I got somethin' I wanna tell ya later."  
"Why not now, babe?" Sarah just smiled at Jack.  
"Good things come to those who wait."

* * *

_Ext. Hiwaka view apartments - September 27th 2002, 9:10 pm._

"Just here please." The grey taxi stopped outside the apartments. From it stepped Mark and Raye, a few cuts and bruises on their faces. Mark had a slight limp.  
"Mark, will you come back to the temple for a few minutes? I've got something I want to discuss with you." Raye held Mark's hand.  
"Yeah, sure. What's it about?"  
"I'll tell you when we get there." Mark looked anxious as the pair crossed the road.  
"That was a pretty good movie while it lasted." Raye seemed distant. She was still in shock at finding out that her boyfriend was a senshi even though she knew that all the clues had pointed at him. Raye unlocked the front entrance to the temple and lead Mark to the lounge. The pair sat down opposite each other.  
"You're the Mars Knight, aren't you?" Mark simply smiled as Raye looked very anxious.  
"Indeed, Sailor Mars." Raye was extremely shocked. He knew her true identity.  
"How... how did you know I was Sailor Mars?" Mark smiled still, taking a deep breath.  
"Because I'm on a mission to find you. A mission to help you and the other Sailor Scouts." Raye shook her head in disbelief.

"How? Why are you here?"  
"I was the one that discovered Negaverse America's plans to revive the major officers of Negaverse Japan. They claimed that they were close to a breakthrough that would allow them to take over planet Earth. They just needed to eliminate the princesses of each planet. After the senshi of America, Germany and Great Britain recovered all of the star seeds to bring their princesses back to life, taking Earth became much harder for the Negaverse." Raye was becoming tearful.  
"You mean... we're alive today because of you guys?..."  
"Yeah. It was a great tragedy when we first heard that the princesses were dying, and you were gone a good few months before we finally got our break. The fourteen seeds had been scattered throughout the world. Lucky for us the majority of the seeds were found in our home countries of the USA, England and Germany. We found your seed encased within the white cliffs of Dover. The nine of us worked for a good five days trying to get that seed without damaging it or the cliff, but we did it in the end. As far as we know from Central, you were revived on April 17th 1999, your seventeenth birthday I do believe."  
"Wow..." Raye was clearly moved. "No wonder I can't remember christmas '98."  
"Yeah. We managed to find the seeds of Sailor Venus, you and Sailor Pluto. Anna, a friend of mine who was the Moonlight Knight, the British equivalent of Sailor Moon, found the seeds of Princess Serenity, Sailor Chibi-Moon and Chibi Chibi on a holiday in Tokyo. The only seeds we haven't found yet are those of the starlights." Raye immediately dashed over to Mark and hugged him, tears streaming down her face.  
"I had no idea. None of us knew how or why we were revived. I can't thank you enough."  
"It's not just me you have to thank. All thirty of us around the globe did our part." Raye let go of Mark.  
"What about you? What happened to you during the Silver Millenium? What is your destiny in Crystal Tokyo? I must know!" Mark smiled once more.  
"That, my love, is another story for another day."

* * *

**_End Of Chapter 9_**


	10. Comfort In Sound

_Disclaimer/Author's Notes: I don't own anything on page one. The song "Eternal Melody" is my attempt at an rhyming English translation for "Eien No Melody" (Hope y'all know it!) from Episode 52 of Sailor Moon. I don't own Brian Adams, nor do I own the rights to "Everything I Do, I Do It For You", but it is such a beautiful song I just had to include it._

_Also, I've made up my mind about who ends up with who in the end, but I'm not going to say anything. I've also written the final chapter which will not be up for a LONG time. _

_One final thing, I GOT 25 REVIEWS! W00T! I'd like to take this opportunity to personally thank _**_Princess Ren_**_again__for all her wonderful reviews and I hope that you continue to enjoy this story 'till the very end. Thanks to everybody else who's sent in a review, and keep 'em coming!_

_Anyway, now to the latest installment of "All the small things in life."_

**Chapter X: Comfort In Sound.**

_Int. Apartment 211, Hiwaka view apartments - September 23rd 2002, 10:10 pm._

Mark returned to the apartment that evening to discover in an unusually happy mood. Much to his suprise Mark opened the apartment to find Jack and Sarah dancing along to a flamenco that Chad was playing on his acoustic guitar. Mark simply quietly closed the door behind him and nodded his head to the lively spanish beat, smiling at Jack and Sarah's very impressive dancing. The pair finally stopped several minutes later when Sarah kissed Jack after the final chord. Jack opened his eyes in suprise, but decided to deepen the kiss. The pair were greeted by wolf whistles and applause from Mark and Chad when they finally broke the kiss, resulting in red faces on the dancers.  
"So, Jack, will you go out with me?" Jack burst out into a fit of embarrased laughs, very unusual for a man of his personality.  
"Of course. I'd love to be with a chick like you." The pair kissed once more in what seemed like a scene from a fairlytale. Mark and Chad couldn't help but feel happy for them. Jack was clueless as to why Sarah would make a move for him, as was Chad, but Mark had more of an idea. It was him who had given Sarah the confidence to go for Jack.  
"Congrats, guys!" Sarah smiled at Mark as he made his way to the keyboard and begame to play a ragtime dance piece. Chad joined in with his guitar as Sarah and Jack danced once more.

"Dude, I wanna tell you something." said Chad as he pulled up a stool next to Mark and sat down.  
"What is it?" Mark was extremely worried, worried that Chad would talk about Raye.  
"I'd like to apologise for all that shit I've caused about Raye." Mark was shocked. He was trying his best to continue playing while listening to Chad, but this was a complete turnaround by Chad. Nethertheless he continued playing.  
"There's nothing to apologise for, man. You've done nothing wrong." Chad smiled with relief.  
"I insist. I've been, like, acting really selfishly and I've ended up, like, just making a total ass of myself in front of Raye. The reason why she, like, hates me is cause of my selfishness. You're, like, one of my only buddies I've got left round here and I don't want anything as..." Chad paused to find his words. "as silly as woman problems to, like, get between us, capishe?" Mark quickly ended the song.  
"Fine by me." Chad shook Mark's hand, however, there was one question still bugging the back of his mind. "Do you... still like Raye though?"  
"Dude, I'd be lying if I wasn't, but the chances of me getting back with her are, like, zero at the moment. She's a very sweet girl, so I don't, like, want to ruin anyone else's relationship with her." Chad looked very pained as Mark began to feel slightly guilty. "One thing, don't make the same mistake as I did. Always keep her at, like, the top of your list of priorities. I'll be onto you majorly if you don't." Chad smirked before Mark joined him laughing.  
"Glad to see that peace has returned to this place." Jack held a glass of water in the air, Sarah holding onto his shoulders. "I'd like to call a toast to the four of us, living together in peace."  
"Cheers." The other three flatmates raised their glasses in agreement.

"Right, any requests anyone?" Mark was in the mood for plenty of music that night, despite being very worn out.  
"Oh yeah! I got one!" called Sarah. "Brian Adams, Everything I Do." Chad jumped slightly. That song was Raye's favourite song of all time, and he remembered how he had performed it to her many times when they were going out. It would bring back bad memories, but he knew he had to get her out of his head.  
"Heh. I know the bass tabs to that one. Gimmie a few minutes to get my bass." Mark and Chad looked at each other in suprise.  
"Dude, did that guy just say he was a bassist?"  
"I think so. Didn't know he played an instrument." Sure enough, Jack emerged from his room with a blue and white electric bass in one hand, a small amp in the other. After a few moments of tuning he was ready to go.  
"A 1, 2, 3, 4..."  
Mark played the piano intro before he and Chad began to serenade Sarah with their magnificent singing voices. The sound they produced was magnificent for only three instruments, and they were all spot on with the notes. The end result left Sarah in tears of joy.

"My god that was beautiful!" Jack ran over and comforted her while Mark and Chad did a high-five.  
"Dude, that majorly rocked! We rule!"   
"Chad, just wondering, you know those autumn concerts that Raye puts on?" He hoped he wouldn't get a negative reaction from Chad.  
"Yeah?"  
"Did you ever play guitar as part of the band for those concerts?" Chad smiled smugly.  
"Yep, sure did. You're, like, lookin' at the best axe player this side of Cherry Hill."  
"Cool. Are you coming to practice for this year's concert? Raye said that she's holding the first practice this monday at four at the uni." Chad began to quietly laugh.  
"Definately. She hates me, but she knows there's, like, no-one better on guitar." Mark turned back towards Jack.  
"You comin' as well? You're a pretty good bassist."  
"Count me in. I've always wanted to perform in public."  
"Nice one. I'll tell her tomorrow." Chad slapped Mark on the back and laughed once more.  
"Dude, what are we waiting for? Let's rock!" Once more the trio began to play, this time Nirvana, Lithium.

* * *

_Int. "The War Room", Negaverse command centre - September 28th 2002, 9:00 am._

"My Queen, tell me why did we have to leave that battle last night?" Malachite was still fuming at the incompetance of his Queen.  
"There was no way we could have won that battle last night. We rushed into battle without the power of Queen Metallia behind us and we payed the price." The evil Queen didn't seem her usual self. She seemed remorseful and was admitting that she had made a mistake. Malachite seemed very suprised.  
"You're admitting you made a mistake?!"  
"Yes. A very foolish one at that. If you dare question my quality of rulership I will make sure you die a slow, painful death. I learn from mistakes. Anyway, I only anticipated there being five Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo Mask. My lack of judgement lead to our outnumbering."  
"So what do we do next?" Malachite spoke quietly.  
"We wait. We wait for Metallia to be revived. The reason we lost was because we did not wait long enough for her. Our impatience nearly destroyed us."  
"Good advice, my Queen. I shall go collect a report on Metallia's progress." Malachite stood up and walked towards the large door. However, as he went to open it the door seemed to open on its own. Behind it stood a small person completely concealed in a grey robe. His face was impossible to see for it was cloaked in shadows. In his hands was a large crystal ball. At his side stood a man dressed in a white uniform with a blue thorn pattern on his jacket. His hair was crystal white.

"And who might you be?" Malachite looked down on the small cloaked man.  
"He is wiseman. I am Prince Diamond. And who, might I ask, are you?" Malachite looked sharply into Diamond's eyes.  
"Malachite. General of her majesty Queen Beryl." Diamond shook Malachite's hand.  
"Charmed. I've heard of you. Queen Beryl and Queen Metalia were the first to try and kill Sailor Moon, and I hear they were very close as well." Malachite smiled.  
"Yes. Close but no cigar, as they say. I'm guessing you were revived by the Americans as well judging by the fact that Sailor Moon is still alive."  
"Enough of this foolish chat! I must see Beryl now!" Wiseman sounded very deep and intimidating for someone of such small stature.  
"I'm afraid that is not possible at the present moment. Her Majesty is not feeling too well. Shall I inform you when she becomes available?" Wiseman's eyes began to glow as Prince Diamond frowned.  
"I suppose so, but tell her that this is a matter of great urgency." The Prince and Wiseman walked off down the hallway as Malachite headed off in the opposite direction.

* * *

_Int. Hiwaka shrine - September 28th 2002, 10:00 am._

"Raye, I seriously hope you have a good reason for calling us here early on a sunday morning." The six women seemed very tired after the battle the night before. Least impressed was Serena, who always liked to act lazy on a sunday while Darien cooked breakfast.  
"Believe me, this is important. It's about that Mars Knight that helped us last night." Raye sounded quite anxious at what her friends would think of her discovery.  
"What about him?" yawned Lita.  
"You know my boyfriend Mark?"  
"That cute guy that was here after the shopping centre attack?" Raye looked jealously at Mina.  
"Yeah, him. It turns out that he is the Mars Knight." The women seemed shocked. "No, I'm serious. I saw him transform with my own eyes!"  
"No way! Your boyfriend's a senshi?" laughed Serena in suprise.  
"Not only that, but he's part of the reason why myself, Mina and Trista are alive today. After our star seeds were taken and we died, the other senshi around the world searched for the star seeds after they found out that the seeds had been scattered around the world. He told me that mine was encased in the white cliffs of Dover!" The women shook their heads in disbelief. "He also said that the Moonlight Knight found the star seeds of Princess Serenity, Sailor Chibi-Moon and Chibi-Chibi on a trip to Tokyo."

"I thought Darien died as well! How can the Moonlight Knight recover the star seeds for our family if he was dead?" Serena seemed very confused.  
"Not that Moonlight Knight. I'm talking about the British equivalent of Sailor Moon, Anna Motson."  
"Hey! She stole that name from Darien! She should pay!" The women glared at Serena. "What?"  
"You should be thankful that there is a different Moonlight Knight, otherwise you wouldn't be alive today! Anyway, that Moonlight Knight was just _another_ one of Darien's alter egos."  
"He's still the best Moonlight Knight! Anyway, that's my future husband you're talking about!"  
"You ungrateful little bitch! You'd still be six feet under if it wasn't for her!" It looked like Raye and Serena were ready to tear each other to shreads. Michelle quickly stepped in.  
"So, what's his background? Where was he on the final night of the Silver Millenium?" The women edged closer to Raye, longing to hear Mark's story.  
"That's the thing. He wouldn't tell me. He just said that it was 'another story for another day'. I've done a hell of a lot of fire readings this morning, but there's nothing. Not one bit of information."  
"What? All that for nothing? What's up with that guy?"  
"I don't know. I think I'll ask Luna and Artemis later and see if they've got anything on him."

"So, did anyone die in those attacks last night?" Hotaru had always hated herself whenever an innocent person lost their life to the forces of the Negaverse, despite being the senshi of death and rebirth.  
"I dunno. Last time I checked the news there were no casualties reported, but that was last night." replied Mina.  
"Oh. Good. I'm holding a practice for this year's autumn festival concert tomorrow afternoon. Lita, will you be able to play the drums again this year? You were excellent last year." Lita looked modest.  
"Sure. What time does it start?"  
"Four o'clock in concert hall 2 of the university. I trust you'll be there to lead the strings section, Michelle?"  
"Hey, sure. Playing the violin is my only passion." Amara nudged Michelle. "Apart from Amara, that is." Michelle kissed Amara on the lips to the disgust of some of the other women.  
"Save it for the bedroom you two." Raye looked at the other women. "Any of you girls fancy coming along to listen? I'm looking for people to give their opinions on my songs."  
"Yeah, sure." All of the other women nodded their heads in agreement.  
"That's settled then."

* * *

_Int. 14 Atherton Street, Knightsbridge, London - September 28th 2002, 10:00 pm GMT._

Anna had spent the past couple of hours in her room, contemplating why Mark had gone to Tokyo. She knew that the Negaverse had reared its ugly head once more in the Japanese capital, but she was clueless as to why he would go there when he knew that the Japanese Sailor Scouts were more than capable of dealing with any threat. Worse still, he had fallen in love with a Sailor Scout and was now going out with Sailor Mars.  
"Why?..."  
Anna was sitting in her room, a picture of herself and Mark together at a theme park in her hand. Mark had been her best friend for many years and they got along very well. However, in secret she had aways loved him, although she had never let him know. Knowing that he was dating another senshi was crushing for her.  
"Mark, I miss you more than words can say. I feel so lost without you."

"Heh. I always knew you fancied him." Anna looked behind her to see a tall woman with long, flowing brown hair. She was wearing jeans and a white shirt. She had a thin golden necklace with a purple pendant attached to it. The light of the desktop lamp seemed to give her a golden aurora.  
"Lucy! What're you doin' here?!" Anna seemed embarrased and annoyed at the woman's entrance.  
"Ganymede told me that you weren't feelin' too good, so I came to check up on you." Lucy sat down on the bed while Anna moved her chair around to face her. "I'm guessing you've got some new information about Mark." Anna sighed.  
"He's definately in Tokyo according Luna."  
"Who's Luna?"  
"She's one of the Japanese Sailor Scouts' guardians. The Japanese equivalent of Ganymede."  
"Oh." Lucy opened her black leather handbag and pulled out a bottle of mineral water. "You want one? I've got another one in my bag."  
"No thanks. I'm okay. I just had a cuppa a few minutes ago."  
"So did you get anything else about him?"  
"Yeah." Anna looked down at the dark floor below her. "He's found himself a girlfriend."  
"What? Oh you poor thing." Lucy stood up and hugged the weeping Anna.  
"It's not like she's any ordinary girl either. He's only going out with the bloody Princess of Mars, of all people!" Lucy gasped in horror.  
"You mean... he's going out with Raye Hino? Raye Hino, the short tempered senshi of fire?" Anna looked up at Lucy, tears streaming down her face. Lucy handed her a tissue.  
"The one and only. Tell me how I can compete with that." Lucy thought long and hard, all while trying to keep Anna calm.  
"The only thing I can think of is to go to Tokyo yourself and try and claim him. Raye's not a person to mess with though. I've heard that her very insults can kill."  
"That's too expensive though. I can't go to Tokyo anytime soon, so what do I do?" Lucy looked very worried at the way Anna was talking.  
"All we can do is pray then."

* * *

_Int. Concert Hall 2, South Tokyo University - September 29th 2002, 4:00 pm._

For the past couple of weeks Raye had been advertising for musicians to provide the backing music for her songs, and the concert hall at the university was alive with scores of people wanting to take part. It was a long shout from Raye's first concert six years ago where she only had a drummer, a bassist, a guitarist and a pianist on the synths. Now she had virtually a full orchestra to choose from. Virtually everyone in the hall was creating some sort of noise or tuning their instruments.

Several of Raye's friends had joined her as instrument players. Michelle was an acclaimed violin player who had even performed a solo in Raye's concert the year before. Mark had taken his place at the grand piano and was busy playing a few jazz medleys with a trumpet player. Raye allowed Chad to take part as the guitarist purely on the basis that he was an extremely good guitarist. She still hated his guts, but knew that there were no guitarists this side of Tokyo that were better than him. Jack had turned up with an electric bass and had beaten off the competition. Lita sat behind on the drum stool; She had been taking drum lessons for nearly three years and found playing them a good way to relieve stress. Raye's other friends sat in the corner of the hall, giving their opinions of this year's songs.

"Okay guys, could I have some quiet please?" Raye's voice echoed through the hall as she entered wearing a microphone headset. She was wearing black trousers and a red short sleeve t-shirt, "Danger! High Voltage!" printed on the front. She was greeted with a large round of applause and a few wolf whistles, which caused her to blush. "Sorry guys, I'm already spoken for." She looked over towards Mark as a few boos could be heard from the brass section. Mark just chuckled and shook his head.  
"Aww no. That's ruined our chances of being together then. Amara's starting to get boring." joked Michelle, greeted with giggles from everyone else in the hall.  
"I can assure you Michelle, I'm straight at the moment." chuckled Raye. Michelle grinned.  
"So there's still some hope for the future then, eh Raye?" Raye couldn't stop giggling.  
"Maybe, who knows?" Wolf whistles filled the room as Raye and Michelle blushed. Mark had exploded into a fit of laughter. Even Chad had a smile on his face. 

"Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone here for turning up for practice, and I'm so glad that the concert's attracted so much interest. This is the second year in which I've had a full set of sections at my disposal, and I've learnt a lot from last December's concert, so this year the music should be much better. As you'll see from the music packs which you will all get in a few minutes I've opted for a mixed bag this year. A bit of swing, some dance and some ballads to wash it all down. If one person from each section could come up and collect the parts for their section, each box is labeled. Chad and Jack, you'll have to play from a five line stave since I don't know how to write tabs. You can figure out tabs if you find it easier though." Making life easy for Chad was the last thing on her mind, but this was her music that she had spent the last eight months composing. She didn't want her music to be poorly played, and Chad was a very good musician despite being a seemingly selfish person in her eyes. It was an acceptable compromise. Several people stood up and collected the boxes from the table behind Raye before handing out the dark red folders to their fellow musicians.

"Right, I'd like to start with the end. Could you all find 'Eternal Melody' please?" The sound of rumaging and paper flickering filled the room as the musicians found their sheets. Raye opened the large score book to the beginning of the final song, browsing through each part. "Mark, you're on the synths for this one. Search for a sound called 'Crystal Chime'. I think its number 55. Chad and the Brass section can take five for this one. Strings, you're very important for this one, especially the viola in the second verse. Wind, I want you to hit those stacatto notes directly on the beat otherwise the whole thing'll just sound crap." A small giggle came from the Brass section. "How old are you lot? You're supposed to be in high school or university! It's not like you haven't heard swearing before!" She turned back towards the rest of the band. "Everybody ready? I'll count in. 1... 2... 3... 4..."

Mark, Jack, Lita and the low strings kicked in with the introduction to the ballad. All went quiet as Mark, Lita playing only symbals, Jack and the woodwind section provided the serene backing music as Raye began to sing.

_Living life under the golden sun  
In my heart you are forever with me  
I need no words, only your love  
Your touch, your soul, everything that you may be_

_Oh, your bravery sweeps me off my feet,  
In my heart, I believe we were destined to meet,  
The light of our love, shining bright,_

_Oh, my love, those under the velvet sky and stars  
My love, we shall never be apart  
Not 'till the very end  
The Eternal Melody of us  
Our song we send._

"Right, stop there." The hall went silent as everyone stopped playing their instruments. "I don't quite know what went wrong there but the wind section seemed a little flat there. Could the flutes play an F sharp please and hold it?" The flutes began to play the one note. "Now Mark, could you play an F sharp?" Mark held down the black key. "Hmm... okay, could all the wind section play the first note and hold it? I should be getting a chord of G major seventh." Much to Raye's suprise the woodwind section didn't play, instead the Moonlight Densetsu theme rang out of Serena's mobile. Raye glared at Serena who blushed as she flipped it open. A large cry of "HELLO!!!" erupted from the brass section as Serena put the phone to her ear.  
"Serena! Could you turn that off after you've finished?" Serena gave a thumbs up sign to Raye before shaking her fist at the brass section.  
"It's for you Raye. I don't know why they called my phone." Raye took off her headset and placed it beside the second headset on the table before taking Serena's phone outside the hall to answer the call.

"Dude, now's our chance." Chad and Mark rushed over to the table and put the headsets on.  
"Give me a good old microphone anyday." Mark's voice echoed through the hall as he ran back to the piano. He took a book of movie themes out of his bag before opening it out to "Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves."  
"Dude, you ready?" The hall chattered as Chad checked with Jack and Mark.  
"Ready as ever. This is a bit of a well-known theme in the movie world."  
"And this is, like, also the favourite of a certain singer who is taking a call at the moment." The hall erupted into cheers.  
"1, 2, 3, 4..." The atmosphere in the hall was electric as Mark began to play the into to the Brian Adams song he, Jack and Chad had performed the night before. It was Chad that began to sing first after Mark finished the intro.

_Look into my eyes - you will see  
What you mean to me_

Mark took over from Chad as he sang the second part of the verse. The musicians in the hall cheered once more as Lita began to lighly tap the drums.

_Search your heart - search your soul  
And when you find me there you'll search no more_

Tears started to form in the eyes of some of the women, including Mina and Hotaru, as the two men sang in harmony for the chorus.

_Don't tell me it's not worth tryin' for  
You can't tell me it's not worth dyin' for  
You know it's true  
Everything I do - I do it for you  
_

Meanwhile, outside the building, oblivious to what was happening inside, Raye was on the phone.  
"Hino. Who's speaking please?" A young woman's voice replied in broken japanese.  
"Hi. I'm Anna Motson, is Mark Davison there please?" Raye instantly recognised that name. _Anna Motson_. She was the English Moonlight Knight, the one that had recovered her star seed from the white cliffs of Dover. Raye peered back through the door to see Mark, Chad and Jack playing away.  
"Oh, I'm sorry. I haven't seen him today." Raye wondered what was going on inside the hall.  
"Okay. You are his girlfriend, aren't you?" Raye seemed suprised at Anna knowing this.  
"Yeah. Why d'ya ask?"  
"Could you pass a message on to him please?"  
"Yeah, sure."  
"Tell him to call Anna Motson as soon as possible, but not when I'm at the university. I've got something important to discuss with him. I'm an old friend of his." Raye couldn't help but feel slightly suspicious.  
"Okay, I will do."  
"Thank you very much." Raye knew this was probably going to be one of her only opportunity to speak to Anna, so she had to thank her for one last thing.  
"Thanks for getting my seed for me, Moonlight Knight." There was a brief pause.  
"Anytime, Sailor Mars." Raye didn't seem too suprised at Anna knowing her true identity. The Moon Kingdom senshi database was open to all senshi, so anyone could find anyone else's true identity. Raye headed back to the music hall, but froze outside the door as she heard what was being sung.

_Look into my heart - you will find  
There's nothin' there to hide  
Take me as I am - take my life  
I would give it all - I would sacrifice  
  
Don't tell me it's not worth fightin' for  
I can't help it - there's nothin' I want more  
Ya know it's true  
Everything I do - I do it for you_

She was stunned by the way the men sung in perfect harmony. She had always loved it when Chad serenaded her with this song, but now that Mark was singing as well it had seemed like the song had been become a thousand times more beautiful than it already was. Hands over her face, she was almost brought to tears like a teenage girl watching her favourite pop idol in concert.

_There's no love - like your love  
And no other - could give more love  
There's nowhere - unless you're there  
All the time - all the way_

The musicians clapped to Lita's beat as Mark and Chad turned their instruments up to full blast for the bridge.

_Oh - you can't tell me it's not worth tryin' for  
I can't help it - there's nothin' I want more  
I would fight for you - I'd lie for you  
Walk the wire for you - ya I'd die for you_

The hall went silent as Mark and Chad reached the final bars. The only thing that could be heard was the sniffling of some of the women in the hall.

_Ya know it's true  
Everything I do - I do it for you_

Raye walked back into the hall clapping sarcastically. She snatched the headset from Chad before placing it back on her own head. Mark put his headset back on the table as the musicians applauded and whistled.  
"Okay, thank you Bryan Davison and Bryan Kumada. No kudos for either of you though." Raye took off her headset and whispered in Mark's ear. "Someone called Anna Motson just rang for you. She said she wants you to call her back ASAP, but not when she's at the university. How she got Serena's number I don't know." Mark eyes opened in shock as Raye mentioned Anna.  
"I will do when I get home." Raye put her headset back on and went back to the scorebook on her table.  
"Okay, let's try that again from the top. 1, 2, 3, 4..." The band began to play Eternal Melody once more, but Mark had something else on his mind.

"Why is she calling me? I must complete my mission without interference..."

* * *

**_End of Chapter 10._**


	11. Wise Tactics

_Discalimer/Author's Notes: I don't own anything mentioned on page 1. Zilch. Zero. Nothing. So there. I'd also like to be president of the United States of Whatever, but I know that ain't gonna happen :(_

**Chapter XI: Wise Tactics.**

_Int. Concert Hall 2, South Tokyo University - September 29th 2002, 6:20 pm._

The practice session that evening had gone very well. Raye was feeling satisfied with herself. Her songs had been given the thumbs up and even she was suprised by the power of some of the pieces. All was empty in the hall apart from Raye, Mark and some of Raye's friends putting the instruments back into the storage cupboards.  
"Raye, that was awesome! You've got a brilliant line up this year!" Even though Serena was fooling around for most of the session, she had listened to the songs and had thoroughly enjoyed them.  
"Hey, thanks." Raye was carrying two of Lita's snare drums which rattled as she jogged down the steps. "I guess I've had a lot to think about over the past year. I've always found it hard to describe my emotions, but it just seems so much easier when I'm writing songs about them."  
"You were pretty good as well Mark." Mark emerged from the cupboard after putting away one of the heavy synths to see Mina smiling.  
"Hey, thanks." Lita quickly cut in.  
"Yeah, but what was the big idea in playing that Bryan Adams song?" A grin appeared on Mark's face as he lifted the other synth from its stand.  
"Oh, nothing. It's just something me, Jack and Chad decided to play to impress Jack's girlfriend." Lita seemed unimpressed at the mention of Chad. "Chad told us that it was Raye's favourite song, so we decided to play it when she went out of the room to impress her."

"So it was his idea, then?" Mark almost dropped the synth in shock as Raye's voice bellowed through the room.  
"No, not exactly..." This was the first time that Mark had got on the wrong side of Raye and already he was feeling intimidated by the anger in her voice. "Chad said it was your favourite song, so we all came up with the idea to play it. Hope we didn't annoy you." Raye paused, her back to Mark.  
"Me? Annoyed? Never!" replied Raye with more than a hint of sarcasm. She began to walk back towards what remained of the drumkit before pausing once more and turning her head to look at Mark who emerged from the storage cupboard once more. "It was awfully sweet of you though."

Raye had the final drums under her arms, so Mark decided to sit down on the bench next to Raye's friends. He noticed that Mina was shuffling in his direction.  
"So, what's this business about you being the Mars Knight, then?" The hall fell silent at Mina's question. Raye was expecting Mark to be annoyed at the fact that she told her friends about his true identity, but instead in the typical Mark Davison fashion he simply smiled and took a deep breath.  
"Oh, nothing much really. I'm just here to help you out in this new war against the Negaverse, Sailor Venus." Mina froze, staring at Mark with wide eyes.  
"How... how did you know I was Sailor Venus? Did Raye tell you?" She scornfully looked over at the firey-tempered singer.  
"Nope. I've just done my research, that's all." Mina loked at Mark in total disbelief. "One of my best mates at school had a huge crush on Sailor V when she was in England. He'd never believe me in a billion years if I told him I was sitting next to her right now." Mina had a look on her face that could only be described as a mixture of shock and modesty.  
"Woah. I guess I did have a few fans in England."  
"A few? You were the biggest thing of 1996! Most of the lads in my form had a huge crush on you while all the girls were jealous of you." Mina turned as red as a beetroot with modesty.

Mark stood up and started to walk past the four other women sitting on the bench.  
"Lita Kino." Mark stuck out his hand, which Lita reluctantly shook. "I've heard that Sailor Jupiter is very popular in France and Spain." Shocked at his knowledge, Lita suddenly remembered the Electric District shopping centre attack and how she was saved when the messenger burst into flames.  
"Were you at that attack on the electric district? The one where Sailor Mars and Sailor Moon were totally whooped by that messenger?" Raye and Serena looked ready to knock Lita for six.  
"Yeah. You should've seen the look on your face. I reckon that messenger could've killed you if I hadn't have sent that firewall in his direction. You shouldn't have left yourself open like that." Lita felt like standing up and hugging the life out of him for saving her, but she knew she had to keep her tough composure.  
"Thanks." Lita sounded grateful, but there was still a slight hint of distrust to her voice.

"Oh god. He's coming our way!" Michelle felt extremely uneasy at this prospect. She hadn't seen this guy at all before today, and he knew that Mina, Lita and Raye were Sailor Scouts. She knew that it was her turn next, and her tension was crushing the hand of Amara she was holding.  
"Ow! What're you doing?" Michelle let go of Amara's hand after the blonde lept in pain.  
"Sorry hun. I'm just nervous." Michelle put her arm around her girlfriend's waist while Amara put her arm around Michelle's shoulders.  
"Ah, Michelle Kaiou and Amara Tenoh. Glad to see things are going well between you two. I've heard a lot about the destiny of Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus." Amara shook Mark's hand with great reluctance.

Serena didn't seem particulary nervous. This guy was someone she barely knew. So what if he knew her identity? This guy was a senshi himself and had helped to defend the people of Tokyo three times already. Much to her suprise, when Mark approached her he got down on one knee and bowed.  
"Your Majesty. It is truely a great honour to meet you." Serena knew that she was the princess of the moon, but she did not anticipate being greeted like this in her civilian form.  
"Thanks. You don't need to get down on one knee though or address me as 'your majesty', I don't want people to get suspicious." Mark immediately rose once more.  
"My apologies, princess Serenity." Serena began to blush.  
"Please, just call me Serena."

* * *

_Int. "The War Room", Negaverse command centre - September 29th 2002, 7:00 pm._

It had been nearly thirty-six hours since the Wiseman had requested to see Queen Beryl, and in that time the Queen had managed to bring herself back into the right frame of mind for war with the Sailor Scouts. The reports she had recieved had stated that the Americans were very close to recovering Metallia, but the chance of recovering her was not a hundred percent. The Wiseman was tired of waiting for Beryl to become available, so he simply entered the command center for battle plans. Not much had changed since his defeat. The walls were still black and almost non-existant. The floor was still a shade of dreary, deathly grey and the furniature was black with a violet shine. Beryl seemed very annoyed as the cloked figure sat himself down at the table, sitting directly opposite the evil Queen. Directly behind him stood the crystal white figure of Prince Diamond.

"Excuse me! Who are you? This room is for Negaverse high command personelle only!" The Queen's red hair began to flicker in rage. The white prince took a step forward.  
"Allow me to explain. I am Prince Diamond and this is Wiseman. The Dark Moon family was put in charge of defeating the Sailor Scouts after the failure of the Doom Tree." The Queen was not impressed.  
"And what, might I ask, was the doom tree?"  
"A tree consisting of evil, relying upon the energy of the inhabitants of Earth. Two incompetant aliens going under the names Ann and Alan were placed in charge of collecting the energy by summoning monsters to do their work for them." The Queen continued to stare at the crystal prince scornfully as he paused.  
"Go on. What happened after that?"  
"The usual story. Every monster was defeated by the scouts and they eventually discovered the location of the tree. They didn't kill the aliens, but instead converted them into loving, caring people." The Queen shuddered at the very thought.

"And your story is?" The Queen seemed less spiteful at the crystal prince and the cloaked shadow man.  
"We were -" Diamond was cut off by his master.  
"SILENCE!" The small man's booming voice echoed throughout the huge room. The Queen was clearly shocked by how a person of such short stature have such a loud voice. "I shall explain. The last time our family was in control, we were trying to capture the young daughter of the Neo-Queen Serenity, the future self of Sailor Moon, and recover the Silver Crystal she held."  
"You mean that brat Sailor Moon had a daughter? I honestly thought a girl of her age would have more common sense."  
"Silence!" The Queen was becoming more annoyed by this Wiseman by the second. She had never been ordered around before, and she was not going to start now. "Her daughter travelled from the future Crystal Tokyo to try and capture the Silver Crystal that the present Sailor Moon was carrying. On discovering that there were two Silver Crystals for the taking, we focussed our plans around obtaining both of them." The Wiseman paused before signalling Prince Diamond to continue the story.

"We used the help of four warriors, Catsy, Birdie, Avery and Prisma to help tire out the scouts and distract them from our overall mission, but they turned out to be incompetant fools." A smirk appeared on Queen Beryl's face.   
"Catsy? Birdy? What pathetic names for warriors!" she thought to herself as she sat back.  
"The final battle itself took place in Crystal Tokyo in the late 30th century. Tokyo then was the capital of business and arts Earth, the place where the Neo-Queen Serenity had healed the Earth after an ecological disaster in the late 20th century caused Earth to freeze over. After several failed attempts to claim Sailor Moon for myself, I was promptly delt with by Wiseman." Again he was cut off by Wiseman.  
"I made sure that he would never betray us again. He is only here today because I gave him a second chance. He claims that he has no feelings for Sailor Moon which for his sake I hope he is telling the truth about." The Queen quickly cut in.  
"I don't see how anyone could have feelings for Sailor Moon apart from her precious Tuxedo brat." Prince Diamond once again took over.

"We successfully managed to brainwash the little brat and turn her against her mother, father and friends. Emerald, another of our generals who couldn't be here today and can sadly never be revived, was transformed into a dragon using the power of the dark crystal. She put up a very good fight, none of the Scouts' attacks seemed to harm her, but as you can tell she was eventually defeated when Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask targeted the brooch she was wearing. However, our other plan to take over Crystal Tokyo was going splendidly. The dark crystal drawing in negative energy had grown to an extrordinary size and was spreading to the suburbs of the city. However, the small lady was brainwashed back into believing that she belonged with King Endymon and Neo-Queen Serenity." Wiseman's eyes began to glow red as he recalled how close he was to taking Crystal Tokyo.

"Our plan at that stage was almost complete. The dark gate had been opened and was beginning to engulf everything in its sight in dark energy. Sailor Moon turned into the Neo-Queen Serenity and waged battle with me with her Silver Crystal. However, the next thing I did not anticipate whatsoever. A second Silver Crystal appeared in the arms of the small lady. Using the combined power of the two crystals I was defeated. It was a truely crushing experience, but I learn from my mistakes." Another smirk appeared on the face of the evil Queen.  
"I know the feeling. I was seconds away from causing that Silver Crystal of Princess Serenity to shatter. Had I held on for those few seconds longer I would have been victorious. True, Sailor Moon did die from the energy of the Silver Crystal, but that same Silver Crystal brought the scouts back to life."  
"I admire your power, Queen Beryl. You have the courage and ruthlessness of a great dictator."  
"Why thank you." Diamond knew that this conversation was beginning to become off-topic. He had to cut in.  
"Excuse me master, but wasn't this meeting going to be about plans on how to defeat the Sailor Scouts?"  
"Yes. Thank you for your reminder. I'm starting to recover trust in you, Diamond."

* * *

_Int. 0733 train District Line westbound, Kensington station - September 30th 2002, 7:35 am._

The morning rush hour on the London underground had just begun. Every weekday morning was the same for Anna and Lucy, the usual rush to claim a good place on the train amongst the hundreds of commuters. That morning the girls had managed to arrive on the platform early, so they managed to claim seats when they made their way onto the train.  
"So, have you heard anything from Mark yet?" Lucy took out a chocolate bar from her bag as Anna read a text message she had just received.  
"Nope. I spoke to his girlfriend after calling Serena Tsukino's mobile, but she she hadn't seen him. I told her to pass on the message, but I don't trust her. She knows about me though, I think Mark told her." Lucy raised her eyebrow and took a bite of her chocolate as the train began to move.  
"That's not too much of a problem. I mean, she should be thankful for us. We found her star seed."  
"Yeah, she did thank me for that star seed thing. I -" Anna jumped as the first song of a certain Pop Idol winner played from her mobile.  
"Who is it?" Lucy looked over the phone's display.  
"Dunno. Looks like a Japanese telephone number."  
"What're you waiting for? It might be Mark!" Anna quickly answered the call as Lucy tried to listen in.

"Hello?"  
"Anna. I got your message." The voice was unclear because of the poor reception in the tunnel, but Anna was certain that it was Mark's voice.  
"Mark!" Lucy grinned as a look of complete joy came over Anna's face. "It's been so long since I last saw you!"  
"Hey, it's only been two and a half weeks Anna. Where's your sense of time gone?" chuckled Mark.  
"Hey, I've missed you! It's seemed like months!" Tears seemed to be forming in her eyes. "Anyway, what's this I've been hearing about you getting a girlfriend?" A look of anticipation and tension bestowed itself on Lucy's face, trying to listen in on every word that was said.  
"Oh, you mean Raye? Yeah, she's a very nice woman. Beautiful too. I mean, she loves me as well, it was her that made all the moves." Anna fell silent as Lucy began to nudge her, urging her to continue. "Hello? Anna?"  
"Oh, sorry. I guess my mind just wandered for a bit." She paused once again. "Mark? Would you ever want to come back to England, say, when you've finished your studies?"  
"I dunno. It's too early to say. I'll definately be coming back to visit my family in Liverpool and Southampton, but I don't know about long term. I'm actually quite enjoying it in Tokyo." Anna was ready to bring up the topic of the Scouts, but thought it would be inappropriate on a crowded train. The Knights were heralded as national heroes, and the secret of her true identity might have been in jeopardy if she had brought up the topic.  
"So, how are things going in general then?" Anna recieved no reply. After waiting in silence for nearly thirty seconds, she looked at her phone and realised that she was out of range. "Damnit!

"What happened?" The smile on Lucy's face faded as Anna put away her mobile frustratingly.  
"Out of range. He says it was girlfriend that made the moves for him, sounds like she's a man-eater." Lucy shook her head and giggled at Anna's comment. "I'm serious. I know the type. He says he might even stay to live in Tokyo after he's finished university!"  
"Aren't you just acting a little OTT here, Anna? Perhaps he's happy with her. There's nothing you can do about that, and he'll only hate you if you decide to mess with the relationship. Take that advice from a voice of experience." Lucy looked down on the cream floor below her as memories flooded to her head.

"There was once a boy back in year 11 that I loved more that anyone else. He was already going out with someone else at the time and it didn't look like they were going to split anytime soon. I tried to sabotage his relationship with that girl, hoping that I would be able to comfort him and in the end go out with him. As you can guess, I was found out and that lad didn't talk to me at all for the rest of the year." Lucy looked back at Anna painfully. "Just let it go."

"I'll try."

* * *

_Int. "The War Room", Negaverse command centre - September 30th 2002, 6:00 am._

Queen Beryl and Wiseman had been discussing tactics on their war against the Sailor Scouts for over eleven hours before a basic plan was laid out, and both parties were staring to tire. The two evil rulers had decided against summoning monsters to do their dirty work for them due to their total unreliability of getting the task in hand completed. As Beryl herself had put it, "If you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself." The basic idea was to get all of the scouts together and hit them with all the power the Negaverse had. With careful preparation, the task would be very simple. The question now was what device to use that would emit such a powerful force. The Dark Crystal had come very close to capturing Crystal Tokyo, but that had been permanently shattered. Brainwashing was also out of the question. It had been six years since Queen Beryl launched her first campaign against the Scouts, and the bonds between them would have grown enormously.

Prince Diamond and Malachite had been working together in the library trying to find information about the eight new senshi that had appeared after their deaths, as well as the new Mars Knight that had turned up. The didn't find too much about them in the books since the Negaverse library only contained information about the five inner senshi, their data obtained from battles, but they did find brief descriptions of the outer senshi and starlights on Earth's Internet, some of which they found rather amusing.  
"Hey Diamond, see this. Apparantly Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus are role models to lesbians on Earth." Diamond began to laugh at Malachite's comment.  
"You mean that two of the Sailor Scouts are lesbian lovers?"  
"That's what it says here. Aparantly they got the 'couple of the year' award from a top Earth lesbians' website." Malachite was finding it had to control his laughter.  
"What about their Scout powers? Or are they lesbian-related as well?"  
"Sadly not." chuckled Malachite. "Sailor Neptune has the power of water. Attacks include Deep Submerge, Submarine Reflection and Submarine Violin Tide."  
"So, what do those attacks do?"  
"Beats me. This only gives me the names of the attacks. It doesn't say what each attack does. I'm trying to hunt down footage of the Outer Scouts, as they're known as."  
"I guess it's not much use asking anything else about them yet then." Malachite turned back towards the screen.  
"Nope, I'm still looking. I'm onto the fifty-first page of results for -"

Malachite was interupted by a siren flailing from the computer at the desk. The screen flashed red and black while the Prince tried to figure out what was going on.  
"Hey Malachite. What's up with that thing?" The white-haired general glanced at the information on screen.  
"It's the regeneration chambers. They've revived the esscence of Queen Metallia! We've got to get down there immediately. I'll inform Beryl. You go straight there." The general and the crystal prince ran out of the library as fast as their legs could take them.

Malachite stormed into the war room just as the Queen and Wiseman were about to leave.  
"Excuse me! What do you think you are doing storming in like that?" Malachite was breathing slightly heavier than usual because of his run.  
"It's Queen Metallia. Her esscence has been successfully revived. The scientists require your presence immediately." Without saying a word between them, Malachite, Queen Beryl and Wiseman made their way to the first revival chamber. Queen Beryl edged closer and closer towards the glass window of the quartz tank, anxious about how her master would cope without a body. During the final battle between herself and Sailor Moon those six years ago on that Day of Destiny, Queen Metallia had inhabited the body of Beryl after it had seemed like the evil Queen had been defeated. Carefully she rubbed away the condensation which had formed on the glass. Inside the tank lurked a grey spirit, a spirit that looked almost identicle in figure to Queen Beryl herself.

"My... Master..."

* * *

_Int. Hiwaka shrine - September 30th 2002, 7:45 pm._

Nothing particulary much had happened that day. The day at university was as normal, Chad was still keeping his distance much to her delight and she was starting to get along quite well with Sarah the aussie. However, Mark still seemed pretty distant, and the thought of his destiny was still gnawing away at the back of her mind. She had invited him to the temple that evening, but had not told him why. In the usual Mark Davison fashion he turned up on time and sharply dressed.

"Hey, no need to dress up. I just wanted to discuss something with you." Mark was flattered by Raye's comments. Raye was wearing a red turtleneck pullover with some black trousers.  
"You know me, I always like to look sharp in front of a lady." Raye lead Mark into the fire-lit room before the pair at down. A look of seriousness overcame Raye's face as Mark sighed. "I can probably guess what this is about.  
"Mark. I need to know your destiny. If I'm involved then I want to know my part and I want to know how I am affected." Raye paused and took a deep breath. "That ball on the night of the silver millenium. Where were you?"  
"That information is too sensitive. Now is not the time for that." Raye began to grit her teeth as a large frown apperaed on her face.  
"Don't give me that crap. You're a senshi Mark. You're a soldier of the Moon Kingdom! Don't you tell me that your past is too sensitive to share with another senshi! I was there one thousand years ago! Don't tell me you weren't!" Mark shook his head once more, looking down at the teak floor below him.  
"I've told you. I can't. The information is too sensitive. For all I know telling you could change everything." Raye was ready to blow. She was fed up of people lying to her and keeping secrets from her over the years, and there was no way her new boyfriend was going to start now.

"No. I'll tell you now. If you don't tell me now, this relationship ends right here right now, you got it? You don't spill the beans, you're dumped." Mark held his head in his hands as he thought over the options.

"I guess I have no choice... Where do I start?"

* * *

**_End of Chapter 11_**


	12. Silver Memories

_Disclaimer/Author's Notes: I do not own anything on page 1. I hope you all had a very merry christmas and a happy new year. I hope the cliffhanger from the last chapter didn't worry you too much :D. Anyway, here's chapter 12._

**Chapter XII: Silver Memories.**

"The start would be a good idea!" Mark began to shake his head in his hands, becoming increasingly tormented by Raye's obnoxiousness. He was starting to see why Chad would leave her out of the blue like he did.  
"Just over one thousand years ago, 10th October 996, was the night of the Silver Millenium. Queen Serenity had thrown a ball to celebrate the occasion that night and all the major delagates from the planets and moons were invited. It was a grand occasion, but as you know, disaster soon followed. Everyone died, and Queen Serenity used her Silver Crystal to send the esscences of her subjects to Earth. I-" Raye cut in.  
"I've heard that story a million times before! Tell me how you were involved now!" Mark looked extremely pained as Raye's insults began to tear away at his strength.  
"I was just coming to that. I was the Prince of Phobos, one of the moons of Mars."

* * *

_Int. Phobos Royal Palace, Phobos - October 8th 996, 4:00 pm._

_That day the King and Queen of Mars had decided to visit our palace accompanied by their daughter Princess Raye. My mother and father, the King and Queen of Phobos were very good friends of theirs. Unsuprisingly the topic of choice was the upcoming Silver Millenium ball being held at the Moon Palace. I wasn't actually in the meeting room at the time, I was on a balcony looking down at the lake yards away. I was contemplating all sorts of stuff, mainly the fact that I was unable to go to that ball that night. It was the turn of the Knights to stand guard at the asteroid belt to shield the inner planets from a possible enemy attack. All I wanted that day was to go to that ball, and that seemed very unlikely._

_It was a fine autumn afternoon. There was a light breeze as the huge figure of Mars danced precariously in the ocean blue skies. I was all alone until I heard the voice of an angel sneak up behind me._

"Prince Mark. It is a pleasure to meet you once again." The teenage prince turned his head around to see behind him the glorious princess of Mars, her raven hair swaying in the breeze.  
"Princess Raye! What are you doing here?"  
"I just came to see you, that's all. You looked lonely." Mark smiled as he looked back down at the water.  
"Heh. First time I've known you to care about anyone." A slightly sour look appeared on the princess' face, but she quickly shook it off.  
"You believe that stereotypical crap?" Her expression turned to one of slight worry. "I know something's wrong, Mark. What is it?"  
"Yeah, it's that whole ball thing." sighed Mark. "The Knights've got belt duty that night. I can't go." All happiness vanished off princess Raye's face as the reality of Mark not going to the Silver Millenium ball sank in.  
"You're not going? You're not going?!" The princess was one to easily lose her temper over the slightest of things. "Hell no you're not going! You're coming with me to this."  
"I wish it were simpler than that. One of the four divisions had to defend the asteroid belt, and the Knights got the short straw." Princess Raye just shook her head.

"Any news about any planned attacks for that night?" A slight hint of despiration could be heard in the princess' voice.  
"None that we know of, but -"  
"Well, why not just go anyway? I know for a fact that the princesses of Neptune and Uranus aren't going. They find those sorts of occasions boring. I could ask them to cover for you if you cover two Sailor Scout shifts."  
"Nah, they'll probably just want a quiet night in together. They deserve it as well." Princess Raye grabbed the saddened Mark by the collar as her face began to become red with anger.  
"You listen to me now. You are coming to that ball and you are coming with me!" The suprised prince instantly nodded with fright before princess Raye let go of him.  
"Okay, okay. I'll go." The princess handed prince Mark a small white card before she walked off down towards the rose gardens.  
"Meet me at the Mars Palace at 7 pm sharp. I'm not the kind of girl that likes to be kept waiting." Mark looked down at the invitation card in his hand wondering why the princess was acting in such a way.

"What's up with her? It's not like I'm her boyfriend or something." The prince put the small card inside his jacket pocket before walking back towards the conference room.

* * *

_Even though I was not your boyfriend, you always seemed to act like I was. I was madly in love with you even though I was only one of your guards and I knew I had very little chance of being your lover. I didn't know whether you were just acting friendly or whether it was more than that, but you seemed to act like you knew exactly what I was thinking._

_With you putting me in an awkward situation, I had to spend the rest of the day practicing trying to convince Anna Motson, defence secretery to Queen Serenity, why I would be at the ball that night instead of defending the inner planets on the asteroid belt. It was going to take some doing. Anna was already extremely annoyed at the fact that she was going to miss the Silver Millenium ball and to hear that the princess of Mars had pressured me into going was definately not going to make her day whatsoever. All I could hope for was that either the princess of Uranus or the princess of Neptune would agree to take over my shift. You had contacted me later that evening to say that both princess Amara and princess Michelle would be covering my shift. However, that would leave the asteroid barrier weaker than usual since there was not a complete division powering the barrier despite there being an extra person._

"Woah, woah. You're tellin' me that you're asking to go to the ball? This has already been sorted, Mark. We got the short straw, we defend the asteroid belt barrier." The short blonde was clearly not impressed.  
"I know that, but that princess of Mars has got the idea into her head that I have to go to the ball with her." Even though Mark was trying his best efforts to talk Anna round, it clearly wasn't working.  
"Well, you're just gonna tell her that you can't."  
"That's what I tried to tell her, but she wouldn't listen. Anyway, this could be my big chance with her. If things go smoothly, she could be my girlfriend by the end of the ball." Anna gave a sarcastic laugh.  
"By the end of the Silver Millenium era more like. You're staying with us and that's that." Mark took a deep breath as Anna sat back in her leather chair and folded her arms.  
"Princess Raye says she's already arranged cover. The princesses of Neptune and Uranus have agreed to cover for me on the eve of the Silver Millenium. I'm working two shifts with the Sailor Scouts to make up for it." Anna stared at Mark with great disapproval.

"You know that the asteroid belt defence is weaker when the defending division is incomplete."  
"I know that, but we know of no planned attacks." Anna looked down in suprise as Mark got down on both knees. "Anna, I a begging you on this one. I will do whatever to repay you for this."  
"Get up, don't make a scene of yourself." Mark stayed put. "Okay then, but you had better start workin' your ass off the next time you're with us." Mark dashed up before kissing Anna on the cheek, much to her suprise.  
"Thanks. I'll never forget this." Mark dashed out of the pale yellow room as Anna wiped her cheek.  
"Same here. I'll never forget this."

* * *

_Everything was sorted. It was the night of the Silver Millenium and I had picked you up from the Mars palace. We had made our way to the Moon Palace and were at the ball within an hour. You were dressed in attire similar to what you were wearing a couple of weeks ago when you prepared that meal for us. I was dressed in a simple tuxedo with a red rose emerging from my breast pocket, much like most of the other men at the ball. It seemed like any ordinary night outside, although Earth seemed slightly darker than usual. You had introduced me to the other princesses of the inner planets and all was going well. However, things were not so rosy on the asteroid belt._

"How strong is that shield?" Ganymede, guardian of the Knights called down to the eight Knights and two Sailor Senshi below in the power chamber.  
"Ninety percent. I don't think we'd be able to strengthen it any further without Mars." called the Moonlight Knight from the chamber. "We need one fire element to get this up to one hundred percent, and all the fire senshi are at the ball."  
"All we can hope for at the moment is that there's no attacks tonight. Any one of our enemies could break down this shield with ease."

Ganymede ran off towards the control panel as a extremely loud, flailing alarm began to sound. The Moonlight Knight and the Mercury Knight raced up the ladder to join Ganmede at the control panel.  
"What's up?" The fair-haired man in the black, light blue striped Mercury Knight uniform stepped forward to the flashing red console screen.  
"We're under attack! There's some sort of wave of energy that's destroyed all of the Jupiter Palaces! This says that the wavelenghs are negative, so it must be the work of the Dark Kingdom. I think's it's headed for the sun!" With a look of sheer horror, the Moonlight Knight stepped towards the cat.  
"Why would anyone want to head for the sun?"  
"Dark spots. There's several that're raging tonight. Any one of them could give almost infinate power to anyone who has dark intentions. We've got to stop it before it gets there! If I'm right, they'll attack the Moon Kingdom after they've got their power!" The Moonlight Knight and Mercury Knight immediately dashed back into the power chamber as they contributed as much energy as they could to the shield.

_Outside, in the vast vaccum of space, a dark spirit was racing towards that barrier, obliterating everything it saw on the way. A dark spirit with the intention of gaining power from the sun to accomplish its task of oblitterating the Moon Kingdom. All that stood in its path was the weakened asteroid barrier. With its evil might and the dark energy it had captured, the spirit hammered away at the barrier which began to crumble and fade._

"We can't go on like this! If this thing keeps this up we're all gonna die!" screamed the Moonlight Knight from the power chamber. She and her fellow knights as well as the two Sailor Scouts were providing as much energy as they could, but without the Mars Knight to complete the squad the barrier was unable to withstand the sheer strength of the spirit.  
"Keep going! We can tire this thing out! I'm going to teleport to the moon to warn Luna and Artemis." With that, the cat hit the red power amplifyer button to send the energy amplifyer up to maximum before rushing away to the teleporter.  
"Ganymede! No!" The Moonlight Knight went to rush up the ladder, but was held back by the Jupiter Knight. Tears appeared in her eyes as she glanced at the monitor at her side.  
"SHIELD STRENGTH: 3%... 2%... 1%..."  
"Why Mars? Why?..." She fell to the floor as she felt the last of her energy drain away from her body.  
"SHIELD DEACTIVATED."

The evil spirit saw its chance as it crashed through what remained of the shield. It spotted the command centre at which the Knights and two Sailor Scouts were situated and sent a very large ball of dark energy in its direction. The Knights inside were barely conscious, sprawled out on the fall with defeat. Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune held each other in their arms and kissed, knowing that this would probably be the last few moments before they died.  
"Michelle... I love you..." Large tears had formed in the tomboyish blonde's eyes.  
"You too... Amara..." In a large flash of white light, the building was engulfed and obliterated by the evil energy of the spirit.

* * *

_Int. Hiwaka shrine - September 30th 2002, 8:10 pm._

"I presume you know the story after that. The Sailor Scouts of Mercury, Venus and Jupiter as well as yourself die trying to stop the spirit. Prince Endymon dies protecting Princess Serenity, who then commits suicide knowing that she could no longer be with her eternal love in that lifetime. Queen Serenity puts the eight guardians into suspended animation before using the Silver Imperium Crystal to defeat what turned out to be Queen Metallia and send the esscenses of her subjects onto their next lives."

Raye was in tears after Mark had explained the story of his past. _She and Mark were responsible for the the tragedy of the Silver Millenium?_ This was unbelievable. Now she could see why Mark had refused to discuss his past life with her. How could she had been so selfish as to pressure him out of his duties for some ball? Her personal enjoyment had brought death to hundreds of millions of people throughout the solar system. True, those outside the asteroid belt probably would have died anyway, but her actions had nearly brought the entire solar system under Negaverse control.

"No... You're lying Mark..." Mark had a painful 'hate to say I told you so' look on his face. He remained silent as Raye burst out into a torrent of tears.  
"Do you really think I would lie about something as serious as that? If there's one thing I'm not, it's a blatent liar." Raye looked close to collapsing in emotional pain. This was one truth too far.  
"Mark! Tell me I did not do that!"  
"I may have been the one who abandoned my duties and for that I claim the majority of the responsibility, but you were the one that pressured me into it. I loved you back then like I love you now. If I had turned you down I would have lost you forever. I don't think anyone could have seen that attack coming, so at the time it seemed a logical decision. However, even before the attack I felt extremely guilty about not doing my duties. Had you not been such a... grudge-carrying personality, I might have turned you down for that ball and the Silver Millenium would have gone without a hitch."

"There is no way whatsoever I am involved with the downfall of the Silver Millenium! I don't believe you!" Her tears had turned to tears of rage as she began to scream at a typically calm Mark.  
"I was not saying that you were responsible, but you were a major deciding factor. You ask Luna or Artemis to see the log of the Moonlight Knight for the days leading up to the Silver Millenium disaster, they will give you the same story I just gave you." All went silent except for Raye's sniffles and sobs. "I'm presuming you want to hear about my future as well." Raye did not want to hear any more. This was making her feel bad enough, she did not want to hear his future just in case it upset her further.  
"Go." Another uneasy silence filled the room. "You heard me! Get the hell out of here! I don't want to hear any more of your bullshit!" she screamed as Mark swiftly stood up and walked towards the doorway, turning back at Raye to give one last word.

"I am responsible for my actions, and I've tried to avoid telling this story because I love you and do not want to harm you in any way whatsoever. I've always loved you and I always will. Just keep that in mind. Goodnight."

* * *

_Int. Kino residence - October 5th 2002, 3:30 pm_

"Yum! This is good stuff Lita! Probably some of the best food you've cooked in ages!" Serena was scoffing down some beef and french fries as Lita looked modestly at the ever-hungry woman.

That afternoon Lita had decided to cook a buffet for the girls. Lita was a very good cook and originally had her sights set on becoming a professional chef like the ones on TV. Six months ago she had taken the practical exam to get into Tokyo arts and food college, but failed when her cooking timer stopped working and she overcooked the sponge for a birthday cake. There was not enough time to make another one for her cake, so in the end she did not get many marks for her practical. It was crushing for her, but luckily she had another strong subject to fall back on. She was fairly strong with both Geography and History, so she decided to take Law in University to open up a career as a Lawyer or Politician.

"Thanks. I don't think it was my best, but it's still good in my opinion." The girls, Luna and Artemis were all happily chatting away about all sorts of things that had happened recently. However, Raye was not so happy. She was sitting on the sofa in the corner looking blankly down at the lettuce and slice of cheese and tomato pizza on her plate. She couldn't get over the fact that she was a part of downfall of the Silver Millenium even though it had been nearly a week since Mark told her the story of his past. She had not spoken to him since, she had even been too ashamed to make eye contact with him. She had not felt this low since the time Chad left for Los Angeles over a year ago.

"Raye. What's wrong? You've been looking down all afternoon." Serena sat down beside Raye, who was still concentrating on her food.  
"Serena, go away. I don't want to talk about it."  
"Raye, we've had this talk before. If you have a problem I can help you solve it. I don't want a repeat of last September." Raye began to deepen her breathing as if she was about to cry.  
"I don't want to tell you." She paused as she held her head in her hands. "Oh god. I'm starting to talk like Mark did and you're talking like I did. De ja vous..." Serena put her arm around Raye as a single tear escaped from the raven-haired woman's eyes.  
"Look, let's go outside for a moment. You need some fresh air." Raye slowly put her plate on the floor as Serena lead her out to the balcony overlooking the streets below.

"It's Mark, isn't it." Serena couldn't help but feel that this could be another Chad-type situation. Raye was in tears and another suicide attempt was the last thing anyone wanted.  
"Yeah. Last week he told me about his past. What happened to him on the night of the Silver Millenium."  
"So, what happened?" Raye paused and looked down at the concrete slabs below her as she tried to find her words.

"A couple of days before the ball I went to his palace to invite him to the ball, I wanted him to escort me to the ball even though I wasn't going out with him at the time. He said that the Knights had the job of defending the inner planets at the asteroid belt shield that night and there was hardly any way he could get out of it. I pressured him into going with me and somehow he managed to get permission from the Moonlight Knight, Anna Motson, to take leave from belt duty that night. We went to the ball, but the asteroid belt shield that night was weaker without the Mars Knight there. As you know, that night Metallia attacked. The asteroid belt shield was too weak and all of the Knights except Mars were killed as well as Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune who had covered for him that night." Raye had tears streaming down her face once more as Serena tried to comfort her despite being severely shocked by Raye's story.

"I don't believe it! There's no way you could be even remotely responsible for that!" Raye gave a very pained laugh as she tried to continue her story.  
"You know what happened after that. Metallia attacks the Moon Palace, everyone dies, you commit suicide after Endymon dies, Queen Serenity stops Metallia but dies in the process and here we are now..." Raye collapsed in distress as Serena caught her before she fell to the ground.

"Raye... I had no idea..."

* * *

_Int. "The War Room", Negaverse command centre - October 5th 2002, 4:00 pm._

Plans were beginning to become more detailed between Queen Beryl and Wiseman as the hours went by. The knew that the plans had to be increadibly specific and followed to the letter if they were to have any chance against the Sailor Scouts. The basic plan was to eradicate the Sailor Scouts and destroy their star seeds while taking over Tokyo at the same time. From there they could slowly cover the Earth in darkness and take over the Solar System. They had the might of three great leaders in one place, Queen Beryl, Queen Metallia and Wiseman, but they had no devices by which Tokyo could be captured.

"So, what resources do we have left after our departures?" Queen Beryl knew that it would take more than brute strength to take over Tokyo while killing the Sailor Scouts at the same time.  
"Prince Diamond is currently reviewing our inventory, but I am presuming that we have very little left from last time. If we want technology, we're going to have to create it ourselves." Queen Beryl snorted in disgust at Wiseman's comments.  
"Make it ourselves? I'm not a scientist! I wouldn't know the first thing about technology!"  
"But I am." A man's voice could be heard from the entrance of the War Room. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Professor Tomoe." Queen Beryl shielded her eyes as a white-haired man wearing a blue shirt and some sort of cover over his right eye emerged from a blast of bright white light.

"Don't try to kid me! You don't look anything like a Negaverse general! You're dressed in the clothes of an Earthling!" The Queen stood up to confront the Professor.  
"Queen Beryl, such an honour to meet you." He turned towards the cloaked figure of Wiseman. "And Wiseman, how wonderful it is to actually meet my predecessors."  
"What business do you have here, exactly?" The Professor smirked.  
"The same as yours, to eliminate the Sailor Scouts. Apart from that, to see my darling daughter Hotaru once more. I specialise in technology, and I see your scientists here have done an increadable job here bringing me back to life. I look forward to working with them on my weapons of mass destruction."  
"How can you prove that you're on our side? How do we know we can trust you?" Queen Beryl seemed very anxious about a human joining their alliance.  
"Check the computer records. They're all there." The Queen looked back towards her only general.  
"Malachite! Find me the record of Professor Tomoe." The general quickly flipped open a small palmtop computer he had found in the library and accessed the database. After a few moments he had found what he wanted.

"His story checks out. There's a match for Tomoe here, rank leader. His picture matches as well." The Professor put his hands behind his head and laughed.

"Well, well. Looks like I'm here to assist in your plans to kill the Sailor Scouts."

* * *

**_End of Chapter 12_**


	13. Breakin

_Disclaimer/Author's Notes: I do not own anything mentioned on page 1. I also don't own Love Hina or the TV series "24". There. Also, I think I may have put myself in a bit of a pickle by including Professor Tomoe in the story. I haven't seen Sailor Moon S or SuperS at all since only the original series and the R series has been shown in England, so forgive me if I get his personality or his story from the series completely wrong. Anyway..._

**Chapter XIII: Break-in.**

_Int. Aino Residence - October 22nd 2002, 5:00 pm._

Mina's house was alive with music as the girls danced away at her twenty-first birthday party. Her house had become rather crowded with the masses of guests that she had invited. Amongst those guests included her six friends and some of her fellow team-mates from the Tokyo volleyball team.

"Hey, happy birthday Mina." The girls handed a variety of different shaped items wrapped in brightly-coloured wrapping paper to the cheerful blonde as they joined the volleyball players in the lounge. Lita kept a medium-sized white box tied with pink ribbons to herself, making her way to the kitchen to empty out the contents of the box, a white, orange-tinted birthday cake with "Happy 21st Birthday Mina!" written on the top with orange icing as well as twenty-one small orange candle-holders encircling the message.

"Twenty-one, eh? You're now a proper woman!" Smirked Serena as Mina placed the various parcels to her side.  
"Yeah. And now that Amy's in Germany, I'm the eldest of the inners! Bow down to your master!" chuckled Mina as Lita returned from the kitchen.  
"Hey, you may be the eldest, but I'm more important." Serena was trying to grab some of the limelight, using her 'Sailor Moon is the Princess of the moon and thus is more important' ploy.  
"You can talk. You were nothing without us. Plus now that Rini's gone back to her own time, you're the baby of the inner senshi." chuckled Mina in retalliation.  
"You act like it as well." Raye had seemed to have picked up a bit since the previous week, enjoying her favourite hobby, taking swipes at Serena.  
"Raye..." Serena was slightly angry at Raye, but the mention of Rini had stopped her from retaliating. 

Rini was someone unbelievably close to Serena, probably because of the fact that she was her future daughter in Crystal Tokyo. When Rini had first appeared six years ago, she was obnoxious and ill-mannered as well as being one to always pick an argument with Serena. Serena sometimes wondered if Raye had brought Rini up on her behalf. However, over those next few years a bond had grown between mother and future daughter, resulting in them acting more like sisters than enemies. Rini was someone that Serena cared about non-stop, to her she was almost more important that the Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo Mask. When Serena had been revived after her star seed was returned to Central by the Moonlight Knight and Ganymede, she refused to eat for several days after discovering that Rini would no longer be with her in the twentieth century, instead returning to her home era of Crystal Tokyo. Luna eventually managed to talk her round, but ever since that day Serena would freeze in emotional pain whenever Rini was mentioned, her heart crushed by those happy memories of herself and Rini getting along as good friends.

"Oh, Serena. I'm sorry." Mina had just realised what she had said to upset her friend. "Are you okay? I'll get you a drink."  
"No, no. I'm okay. I should just stop looking into the past and look towards the future. I mean, when me and Darien get married and settle down, she'll probably be back, if you know what I mean." A small smile grew on Serena's face as she thought of her long-term boyfriend.  
"Speaking of marriage," Lita quickly cut in to try and lighten the mood. "Amy called me the other day. She says that she and Greg are hoping to try and get married on Christmas Day. They've got the plane tickets and are flying here on the 20th December." The girls' faces lit up as the news of their friend's imminant return sunk in.

"Wow! No way! That's just under two months away!" Serena seemed extremely pleased with the news of he genius friend's return.  
"The only thing they aren't decided on though is whether to have a proper church wedding or a Shinto wedding. If they decide to have a Shinto wedding, they'd like you to do the honours, Raye." Raye's eyes widened in shock. She was going to lead Amy and Greg's wedding? This seemed like such an honour to her.  
"Sure. Tell her I'd love to. Anything for a friend." Raye burst out into a torrent of joyful laughter as the rest smiled at the unusually happy Raye.  
"Y'know, I still can't believe that the brainbox is gonna be the first of us to tie the knot." Smirked Amara, her arm around Michelle.  
"Hey, but what about you two? You're as good as married. You two've got a fairly strong relationship." Mina seemed as cheerful as ever.  
"We would have been married a long time ago if it weren't for that stupid anti-gay marriage law. We're taking part in a demonstration against it in January, there's thousands from all over Japan that're gonna be there. As for a strong relationship, if you mean a balanced diet of love, care and sex, then you could say that." Serena and Hotaru giggled at Amara's comments as her girlfriend Michelle blushed.

"Anyway," Lita quickly diverted the subject yet again. "aren't you going to see what you've got from us?"   
"Oh yeah. Sorry." Mina blushed as she quickly picked up a small case wrapped in yellow, red polka-dot patterned paper before reading the tag.  
"_To Mina from Serena. Happy Birthday! ^_^_" Mina quickly ripped off the paper before she opened the case to find a beautiful golden necklace with an amber crescent pendant attached to it.  
"Wow... Serena, it's beautiful!" Mina shook her head in shock, a large gaping smile on her face.  
"I saw it on sale at the jewlery store Molly's mom owns and I instantly thought of you. I knew your twenty-first birthday was coming up, so I decided to splash out." Serena picked up a smaller box wrapped in silver paper and handed it to Mina. "Darien's working today, so he told me to give this to you on his behalf. He said that he'll come straight here from work." Mina quickly tore off the paper to see a box that was identical to the one Serena had just given her, bar the size. Inside was a pair of earrings, each with a smaller amber crescent attached.

"Serena, I can't thank you and Darien enough. This is the best birthday present I've ever got from you!" Mina lept up and hugged Serena as Raye shifted to the side.  
"Hey, don't mention it. Just don't forget my twenty-first next June." Mina let go of Serena and sat back down on her chair as she picked up the smaller of the two red gifts.  
"_Happy 21st Birthday Mina! Love Raye._"  
"I got you that one. I only really got that by chance, but I'll think you'll enjoy it." Mina quickly unwrapped the small object, which turned out to be a Sailor V Manga.  
"Hey, thanks Raye. I was planning to get that myself within the next couple of weeks." Raye simply smirked.  
"Open it up and look inside the front cover." Mina slowly lifted the polythene cover and took out the book before opening it to the inside front cover.  
"My goodness... That's..."  
"Naoko Takeuchi's autograph? Sure is. She was signing copies in Hirose Comics at the fountain mall. I was going to get myself the latest Love Hina manga as well as the new Sailor V manga, but since your twenty-first birthday was coming up and..." Raye had to be careful not to disclose Mina's true identity while there were ordinary people in the room. "and since you know Sailor V so well, I decided to buy you a copy as well."  
"Wow! Thanks Raye! I can't believe you got that for me!"  
"You've still got one more thing from me." Mina turned her attention to the larger red gift, carefully tearing off the crimson paper to reveal a DVD box set of the show "24".

"Oh, wow! I absolutely loved that series! Thank you!"  
"To tell you the truth I wasn't sure about what to get you. I remembered you talking about 24 so much during the summer, so I thought I'd get you the whole series." Mina stood up to hug Raye, but she was interupted by the blissful chime of the doorbell.  
"Oh, I'll just answer that. Thanks a lot for the DVDs." Mina swiftly departed from the lounge to answer the door.  
"Wonder who that is?" Michelle couldn't see the front door from where she was sitting.  
"Can't be Darien. He usually works until five." Almost as swiftly as she had left the room, Mina returned with a typical Mina Aino smile on her face. At her side, carrying a medium-sized box wrapped in royal blue paper, was Mark.  
"What the hell? What's he doing here?" Raye suddenly turned vicious at the sight of her senshi boyfriend.  
"Raye! Just keep your nerve. Anyway, really he hasn't done anything wrong." Serena was trying to stop Raye from lashing out while the other women seemed bemused by Raye's actions.  
"Oh yeah, he's done nothing wrong. Nothing except bring down the Silver Millenium!" The women looked even more confused as Mark and Mina made their way over towards them

"Hello ladies. Serena, Raye, Amara -"  
"You have some nerve showing up here. " Mark kept a collected look on his face as Mina looked at Raye with disapproval.  
"I invited him, Raye." Mark stepped forward toward the raven-haired priestess.  
"It would have been inpolite to turn her down. Since you're here, I think this would be an ideal opportunity to tell you something. May I talk to you in private?" Raye began to feel the rage build up in her, angry that he had accused her of being a part of the Silver Millenium disaster.  
"No. If you've got something to say, you can say it in front of my friends." Raye folded her arms as Mark got down on one knee.

"I'd like to ask for forgiveness. The story I told you that night was all one-hundred percent true, down to the letter. However, I was out of order for placing any of the blame on you. The blame for the downfall of the Silver Millenium rests squarely on my sholders and my sholders only. I-" Lita quickly cut in.  
"Did... did you just say you're responsible for the end of the Silver Millenium?" Mark loked towards the floor in great pain as he searched for his answer.  
"Indeed. My lack of commitment to my duties allowed Queen Metallia to attack the Moon Palace on that fateful night." The women looked around at each other in amazement, suprised as to why such a decent gentleman would admit to being respnsible for the Silver Millenium disaster.  
"You're pulling my leg, right? There's no way a wimp like you could cause something that big. Tell us more." Mark was visibly beginning to shake in sadness, anger and regret as Lita dug in.  
"You don't want to hear the full story, especially not at an event as joyous as a birthday party." Raye, taking pity on Mark, knelt down at his side and put her arm around him. She knew that the subject of the Silver Millenium was causing him great distress, so she knew she just had to protect him.  
"Come on. I want to hear it." Raye looked back at Lita scornfully.  
"Lita, believe him on this one. I've heard the story and I agree with him." Raye helped Mark to his feet. "Let's go to the kitchen. I'll talk there."  
"Heh. I always knew there was something not right about that guy."

Shaken, but no longer too upset, Mark followed Raye to the kitchen before pulling a chair out for himself and Raye and slowly sitting down. This was the first time that Raye had seen Mark upset, so she reached across towards his hand to try and comfort him.  
"That was a terrible thing for me to do... I promiced myself never to pass my suffering onto anyone else, and now that I've broken my promice you're suffering."  
"Look, it was a bit of a shock and I've been feeling a bit down all week, but I'm not too bad with it." Mark began to shake again in sadness.  
"That's because you're not the one responsible for it. You influenced the decision, but in the end you're not the one responsible. It's completely my fault." Mark paused as his breath began to deepen. "When I first discovered that I was responsible, like you I was in denial for several weeks. During that time not once did I get a good night's sleep. Every night the vision of the end of the Silver Millenium flooded to my head, the excruciating final moments of the Knights, Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus in that command centre. Searching for you when Queen Metallia cast her shadow over the Moon Palace. Watching you die at the hands of Metallia before I charged in head-first to my own death. Every night was the same vision, a reminder of my sins from my past life." Raye wiped away a single tear which had begun to roll down Mark's right cheek.

"Mark... I don't know what to say..." Raye edged closer towards the upset yet strong senshi.  
"Please. I'm not looking for sympathy." Raye paused with anxiety for a few moments, her hand comforting his back.  
"I know this probably isn't the best time, but what about your future? What happens to you on Crystal Earth?" A feint smile emerged on his solemn face at the mention of the future.  
"That, I don't know." Raye leaned even further towards him in confusion.  
"What did you say?"  
"I don't know my destiny. About a couple of years ago the Knights took a trip to Crysal London to defeat an evil attacking the future. The only problem was that my future self was not living in Crystal London. I was nowhere to be seen, so I don't know anything about my future self. My mission here is to find out my destiny, that's why I flew out here to study at south Tokyo University. I'm looking to see if my future lies with the Sailor Scouts, and with you." Raye leant forward once more and hugged Mark as tightly as she could. She couldn't explain it, ten minutes ago she hated him, but no she was embracing him. Love could definately be strange sometimes.

"Mark... I hope it is..."  
"I am hoping that is the case as well. There's also one other thing I'm here to do. I want my revenge on Metallia." Raye let go of Mark before looking at him in total confusion.  
"But we killed Metallia six years ago! How can you take revenge on her when she's dead?" Mark took out his DataPad from his pocket and booted it up.  
"That's no longer the case. According to my sources she's been successfully revived. And she's not the only one either."  
"And what sources might these be?" Mark tapped the screen of his DataPad a few times.  
"My hacking skills. I found a way of accessing the Negaverse database without being detected a long time ago." He swiftly handed his DataPad to Raye, who began to browse through the information on screen. "This is the latest log entered by Malachite. I do believe that date is just over two weeks ago, the night of October 5th."  
"Oh good lord no... We've got all four of them to deal with?!?"  
"I'm afraid so. Queen Beryl, Queen Metallia and Wiseman as well as some of their generals have been revived while Professor Tomoe was captured on a case study in Toronto and brainwashed back to the dark side." Raye slowly stood up and walked back towards the doorway of the lounge, the DataPad still in her hand, taking a long look at the dark-haired senshi of death. Mark slowly followed her, wondering what she was thinking.

"What's wrong?" Raye didn't turn around, still focussing on the young Hotaru.  
"You see that girl over there? The one dressed in the black shirt and trousers?" Mark peered forward as Mina looked back affectionately in his direction.  
"The one next to Amara? I recognise her. She's the Saturn senshi of Japan." Raye passed the DataPad back to Mark over her sholder.  
"Yes. She's Hotaru Tomoe, the daughter of Professor Tomoe."  
"You mean the daughter of a Negaverse leader's a Sailor Scout?"  
"Yeah. Strange as it seems, that's the truth. We managed to turn Professor Tomoe good again after a long war against him, but I doubted whether he could withstand the dark forces if they captured him again. Looks like I was right."  
"I haven't been able to find any plans, but I'm only presuming they want to kill us all as an act of revenge."  
"I don't want to tell you my opinions just now, not at a birthday party anyway." Raye slowly turned around as Mark shut down his DataPad, kissing him on the cheek as she wrapped her arms around his waist. She knew that this was extremely bad news for the Scouts, but she knew that she couldn't start feeling depressed at a birthday party, especially with Mark by her side. "Don't want to spoil the mood now, do I? Let's just party."

* * *

_Int. Apartment 211, Hiwaka view apartments - October 23rd 2002, 10:10 pm._

It was late on a wednesday night. Everyone in the apartment had decided to go to bed fairly early. All except for Mark, who was on his computer. Only the light of the laptop's screen illuminated his room.  
"Okay, time to see what's happening at Negaverse city tonight." Rock music blasting in his headphones, Mark opened up an automated hacking program he had designed himself specifically to hack into the Negaverse computer network. Plugging a small satellite receiver into the back of his laptop, he placed it onto the window and pointed it towards the stars. "Time to play ball!"

The screen of his monitor went blank for a few moments as small green dots came on screen. As the satellite made contact with the Negaverse base hidden somewhere in space the screen lit up with fast-moving lines of code as the program performed its magic.  
"Okay, show me what you got!" A folder-view window poped up onto the screen as Mark searched around for new files that had been updated that day. He noticed that a new folder had been created that day entitled "Tokyo Attack Plan."   
"Ah, nice one. This looks like a winner!" Mark browsed through the folder to find a variety of image files and documents, all with titles referring to some sort of attack. "Time to download..." The senshi quickly selected the files and clicked a button at the top of the window.

* * *

_Int. the Imperial Library, Negaverse command centre - October 23rd 2002, 10:10 pm._

Malachite had returned to the library to continue his research on the outer senshi that had appeared during that cinema attack. He had just returned from his meal and was feeling particulary tired, but still he knew his work had to be continued. He booted up one of the computers at the large mahogany desk in the corner and logged in.  
"When's that Diamond going to arrive? I'm ten minutes late myself..." Malachite stretched as his computer loaded up his files. "Right, now to connect to Earth's internet..." Everything was going smoothly, the program loaded up as normal. However, Malachite stared at the screen in total confusion as an error message appeared.

_Could not connect. Port Comm1 is currently being used by another application. Please click "more" for full report or try again later._  
"Strange... First time I've know that to happen. I always thought that dish was put aside for the computers..." Curious as to what was going on, Malachite clicked the _"more"_ button.  
_Port Comm1 is currently in use. Time of activation: 22:11 on 23/10/2002. Current status: moving 39 file(s) from _**_N:\war on senshi\Tokyo Attack Plan\_**_ to _**_unknown location_**_. Task 99% complete.  
_"Oh god... we're being hacked!" Malachite quickly opened the control panel window and shut down the satellite dish, flushing out the intruder.

* * *

_Int. Apartment 211, Hiwaka view apartments - October 23rd 2002, 10:13 pm._

"Okay, download complete. Let's see what we got here." Mark connected his DataPad to the laptop, ready to transfer the data to the small device. "Eh? What the hell?" Mark looked up to see that the connection had been terminated at the Negaverse end. "Aww crap. I've been flushed! I'll be seriously annoyed if this stuff isn't any use." Pressing the button to begin the transfer, he swiftly made his way to the kitchen to grab a drink, returning to find the data fully transferred.

"Okay. Let's see this." He browsed through the many images and documents, a can of cola in his other hand. "Battle plans for Tokyo invasion and distruction of Sailor Scouts... Let's try basic plan..." Mark opened the document, quickly flicking through the paragraphas for something of great meaning.  
_At the present moment in time it is too early to give a specific date at which the attacks will commence, but we expect to commence the first stage between October 2002 and March 2003. This will depend on many circumstances.  
_"My God... It's already started!" Mark quickly browsed through the filenames of the files, looking for clues as to what was going to happen.

_October 17th 2002_:  
_Plan A is to send Malachite and Diamond out to place five portal beacons at strategically placed locations around Tokyo within the five days, giving us many options as to where to start. The energy of the residents of these points will power these beacons. The places where the beacons will be placed are:_

_*** Fountain Mall.  
*** Television Tower.  
*** Central Park._

Mark shoved his DataPad into his pocket and grabbed his coat and keys as he read the final two locations, rushing out of the door and out of the apartment block.

_*** South Tokyo University campus  
*** Cherry Hill Hiwaka Shrine._

"Oh my god! I've gotta warn Raye!"

* * *

_Ext. Hiwaka shrine - October 23rd 2002, 10:15 pm._

"Come on Raye! Get up!" Mark was desperately banging on Raye's front door, hoping for a quick answer. This wasn't the ideal time of night for anyone, but he knew that her life was potentially at risk. There were no lights on bar the feint glow of the great fire in the main prayer room. After a while of no replies, he grabbed his DataPad from his pocket and called her communicator.  
"Raye! Wake up! It's an emergency!" He could feintly hear the alarm of her communicator, but there was still nothing. "Goddammit! Your life's on the line! Wake up!"  
"Mark! It's quarter past ten! What did you get me up for?"  
"I'm at the front door. Let me in. It's an emergency."  
"If this isn't good I'm gonna fall out with you big time." Raye hung up as she slowly made her way to the door. Mark waited in extreme anxiety as she unbolted the door. "What is it?"  
"You're in serious danger. I'll tell you why inside." Mark glanced down at the short red night dress she was wearing before looking back up at her face in slight embarassment.  
"Don't you dare get any ideas, Mark." The noble Englishman stayed concentrated on the back of her head, forcing himself to avoid lowering his line of sight.

"I've found some new information." Raye leant back against the wall as Mark stood in the doorway of the lounge.  
"What is it?" Mark flipped out his DataPad quickly and recalled the information he had just read.  
"You're in danger. I just hacked into their mainframe and found some quite disturbing information. The Negaverse have placed five portal beacons at different places in Tokyo. Any one of those can act as a way into Tokyo for Beryl, Wiseman and Tomoe."  
"So how does this involve waking me up at this time of night?" Raye folded her arms in protest, severely annoyed by her lack of sleep.  
"This place is hiding one of those beacons. It was planted here within the past week. I need to scan and find it. Here's the proof." Mark handed the DataPad to Raye, who carefully read the paragraph on the screen.  
"Mark, where exactly did you get this from?"  
"I told you, I hacked into the Negaverse mainframe. I stole their entire set of plans." A devilish smile appeared on Raye's face as she slowly shook her head at Mark.  
"So you're mr. hacker man, eh? Is this the whole lot? Is there any more of this stuff?" Mark sighed as he pulled his necklace out from under his shirt.

"I don't know and I don't think I'll ever find out either."  
"What do you mean?" Raye was becoming more anxious by the second.  
"I was flushed from the system just now, seconds after I downloaded the files. I think if they had any common sense they have changed the security setings, so I don't think I'll be able to get back in for a long time."  
"Go ahead and scan the place. I'll go make some tea and see if the fire knows anything." Raye left the room, handing the DataPad back to Mark on the way out.

"Time for action... MARS KNIGHT SOLESTIAL TRANSFORMATION!!!"

* * *

_Int. Monitoring Station II, Negaverse command centre - October 23rd 2002, 10:20 pm._

"Hey Joe, could you come look at this?" The room was completely black, only the light of the many monitors illuminating the monitoring room.  
"What's up?" The tall, skinny man in the blue uniform walked over to the smaller, fatter man at the computer.  
"I'm getting a big energy reading from the Hiwaka beacon."  
"What's the signiature?" The fat man tapped away at the keyboard.  
"One moment..." A large tabled appeared on another monitor to the side. "Two-two-five, fifty-seven, four, one-one-nine. It's from the Moon Kingdom."  
"What're you waiting for? We gotta tell Malachite!" The two men rushed out of the small room as fast as they could, heading down the hall towards the library.

In the library Malachite was trying to reconfigure the security of the mainframe to prevent other attackers from hacking in. The plans had been stolen, but there was a slightly older backup of the files on another drive.  
"Malachite. We have a very important development."  
"What is it?"  
"We've just recorded a huge burst of energy at the Hiwaka Shrine beacon. It's got a Moon Kingdom signiature." Malachte's eyes widened in suprise. He had never expected to find a Moon Kingdom fighter so close to one of their beacons so quickly.  
"Thank you. I'll inform her majesty. Prepare the beacon transporters. Our plans were hacked into ten minutes ago, so I'm presuming they've found out about the beacons. We'll have to stop them before they succeed." Malachite raced out of the room, leaving the pile of papers on his desk scattered on the floor.

* * *

_Int. Hiwaka shrine - October 23rd 2002, 10:30 pm._

"You any closer to finding it?" Raye had been desperately praying to the great fire, but there was hardly any clues as to the exact whereabouts of the beacon or its shape. It had eratically flickered throughout the room, but Raye couldn't seem to make any sense of it.  
"No. This thing's smart. The readings I'm getting keep changing, so I can't narrow down the area." The Mars Knight slowly walked out of the lounge, heading towards the kitchen. "I don't think it's in the lounge. I'm gonna try the kitchen."  
"Okay."

After a few moments of scanning about and becomming more confused, the Mars Knight jolted as numbers violently flashed past in his sunglasses. It seemed to be a large wave of energy coming from the prayer room.  
"Raye! Get out of there! Something's happening!"  
"Oka- Aaaaeeeeeeeee!!!"  
"RAYE!!!" The Mars Knight raced down the hallway, pushing himself to the prayer room as fast as his legs would take him.

"The Mars Knight. It is a pleasure to see you arrive so quickly."

* * *

**_End of Chapter 13_**


	14. Taken

**_UPDATE 19/1/2003:_**_ Okay, I have no idea why the background has gone yellow. I'll be contacting the fanfiction.net admins soon to see if they know how to solve this problem. If you know how to correct this problem, please don't hesitate to email me. Thanks for reading._

_Disclaimer/Author's Notes: You know the drill. I don't own anything on page 1._

**Chapter XIV: Taken.**

"Malachite. I should've known." Without hesitation the Mars Knight began to run over to the limp body of Raye on the floor, but was stopped as he ran head-first into a force field. Clutching his face as he fell to the floor, he dragged himself back up and started to scan the barrier as the general laughed victoriously.  
"Fool. This is a solid force field of dark energy. Your fire powers alone can't break it down. Who's going to save your precious lady now?" A pure feeling of frustration came over the Mars Knight as he examined the tables flashing past in his sunglasses.  
"I'm not going to let you take Raye! Not ever! I'd rather die than let her be taken by the likes of you!" He began to shake with rage as Malachite bent down and ran his hand down Raye's face.  
"I'm afraid you don't have the luxury of a choice. It's a shame you have to lose such a beautiful young lady, but we require her services and her energy." The Mars Knight slowly clasped his hands together into a gun shape.  
"You ain't going nowhere. **_MARS FIRE_**-"  
"Now now, don't do anything stupid. This building is at least eighty percent wood, so it'll go up in smoke in seconds." Realising the situation, he reluctantly lowered his hands. "That's a good boy. Feel free to call your other Sailor Scout friends, but we'll be gone long before they arrive."

The general took out two crystal pyramids from his pocket as well as a small palmtop computer and a knife from his belt before laying Raye out flat on her back. He placed one of the pyramids atop her forehead and used his knife to cut down the centre of her dress from the neck to the bottom of the rib cage before folding the left half over. The Mars Knight just stood, horrified at Malachite's actions.  
"What the hell do you think you're doing?! Show some respect for her, you pervert!"  
"This is neccessary for the transportation process." The Mars Knight could not take no more. He grabbed his DataPad and opened the communicator program.  
"Calling all Scouts! Get the hell over to the Hiwaka shrine as soon as possible! We've got a real big situation here!" The Mars Knight looked back up to see Malachite placing the second pyramid on her chest, directly above her heart, while tapping his palmtop pc.  
"Let's see what we got here. Energy reading... Wow, look's like I've got more than I bargained for here. A first quartile of positive two-two-five, I do believe she is someone from the Moon Kingdom. Queen Beryl shall be most pleased." The Mars Knight slowly walked towards the white-haired general, determined to break through the dark force field.

"This is the last warning I'm giving you! Release her now or I shall show no mercy the next time we meet!" The Mars Knight held his hand out in front of him as he made contact with the force field. He squinted in agony as the dark energy surged through his nerves, but still he persevered. However, it was too late. Malachite and Raye disappeared out of site as the Mars Knight fell to his knees, the force field of dark energy draining his own energy.  
"Raye... no..."

* * *

The Mars Knight spent the next ten minutes sprawled on the floor, unable to get up from the capture of his girlfriend. All he could think about was how this could have happened, how he was unable to find that beacon in time and how he would show nothing but hatred to Malachite the next time their paths crossed. He was also too weak to get up, the dark force field having drained most of his energy. All he could do was wait for the others.  
"Mars Knight! What's happened?" The Mars Knight slowly lifted his head to see Sailor Moon kneeling at his side.  
"He... took her... Raye..."  
"Who? Who took Raye?" Sailor Moon sounded extremely worried.  
"Malachite..." With a great look of anxiety and pain, Sailor Moon looked back at the other inner scouts and Tuxedo Mask.  
"Someone get a chair and help me get him up!" Sailor Venus rushed to the kitchen to grab a chair as Tuxedo Mask stepped forward to help lift the Mars Knight to his feet.  
"Got... to find it..."  
"Find what? What are you looking for?" The Mars Knight broke free of his support and limped his way towards the great fire in the centre of the room, the force field no longer in his way. Sailor Moon was about to step forward and try and stop him, but felt Tuxedo Mask's hand come down on her shoulder.  
"Leave him. I think he knows something." Sailor Moon looked back at Tuxedo Mask with great worry as the limping Mars Knight began to scan the fire.

"Gotcha..." The Mars Knight put his DataPad back in his pocket before taking a deep breath. "Infra-Red vision activate..." he said slowly as his sunglasses turned from black to red. He took another deep breath as he slowly reached into the raging fire.  
"What's he doing?!" Sailor Venus, a wooden chair in her hands, looked at the Mars Knight in total shock.  
"He's either increadibly brave or increadibly stupid! That thing's no ordinary fire!" Sailor Jupiter couldn't believe what he was doing. Even though the Mars Knight was used to fire, everyone could see his agony clearly etched on his face. It was nearly a whole thirty seconds before he managed to pull his hand from the fire, a fairly large crystal pyramid in his severly burned hand.  
"Mars!" Sailor Moon quickly rushed over and carefully took the pyramid from his hand. There seemed to be a slight red aurora coming from the pyramid as she looked down at his scorched and blistered red hand. "Let me help you. I think I can heal that burn, but I haven't tried this on a non-youma before though." As she closed her eyes a small golden crescent wand appeared in her hand, which she used to make a circle of golden dust around her. "**_MOON HEALING ACTIVATION!!!_**"

A stream of golden dust covered the Mars Knight's hand before falling to the ground after a few moments. Miraculously it had worked, his hand back to its regular self.  
"Thank you..." He immediately leant forward and hugged her before collapsing to the ground once more, still weakened by the dark force field. Tuxedo Mask once more rushed to his side, helping him back up and sitting him down on the chair. Briefly looking back at the pyramid in his girlfriend's hands, Tuxedo Mask started to ask questions, hoping to shine a bit of light on the situation.  
"What happened before she was taken? Did you have any warning that this was going to happen?" The Mars Knight was struggling to keep his eyes open, the loss of energy making him extremely tired.  
"About ten minutes..." He took long pauses between his sentances. "I hacked into the Negaverse mainframe... about half an hour ago... I uncovered all their plans..." He loaded up the information about the beacons before handing the DataPad to Tuxedo Mask.  
"This is very bad news. The war's already begun..." The Mars Knight briefly opened his eyes to see Sailor Moon still holding the crystal pyramid.  
"Sailor Moon... Put it down... That's a dark kingdom portal beacon..." Sailor Moon instantly followed his advice, carefully placing the pyramid on the floor. Sailor Venus quickly cut in.  
"So do we send this thing down to central to get it analysed?"  
"No... It's still active... They'll discover central... if you bring that there.... They'll teleport directly there..." The three Scouts gathered round the pyramid in great confusion.

"So what do we do with it?" Sailor Jupiter leant forward took a closer of the mysterious object.  
"We can't do anything until Luna gets here. She said she had to inform central with the latest news about fifteen minutes before we were called." With a great air of sadness, Sailor Moon looked back into the pyramid, its eerie red glow beginning to fade. "Hold in there, Mars... For our sake and his sake..."

* * *

_Int. Interrigation Room I, Negaverse command centre - October 23rd 2002, 11:00 pm._

"Unh..." It had been nearly an hour since her capture, and Raye was beginning to come back around. As she slowly opened her eyes, she found that her vision was a little blurry, but she knew instantly that she was no longer in the temple. "Where am I?..." Her head was pounding as she tried to figure out where she was. Her arms were stretched out to either side and the surface she was lying on felt increadibly hard. As she tried to put her hand over her head, she soon discovered that she was chained to the surface.

"What the hell?..." Realising her situation, she tugged at her restraints to try and break free, but in her civilian form she was increadibly weak.  
"Hello Raye..." Raye tried her best to look around and find where the echoing voice was coming from. However, she instantly knew who it was and where she was being held.  
"Malachite! Where are you, you bastard!" Slowly she saw Malachite's upside-down head lean over hers.  
"Now that's no way to address someone more superior than you, Raye Hino. Or should I say Sailor Mars?" Fear filled the raven-haired senshi's heart as an evil grin appeared on the general's face.  
"The hell?... How did you know?!" Malachite smoothly moved towards her side as he held the two small pyramids and palmtop computer in front of her face.  
"Isn't modern technology wonderful?" The fear was obvious in Raye's eyes, but she knew she had to be tough.  
"What're you going to do with me?" Malachite started to walk around the table, hands behind his back, as he began to explain.

"You're being detained at her majesty Queen Beryl's pleasure, so she and Wiseman will decide your fate. Any number of things can happen. If you're lucky they'll just execute you right here, right now. You could be converted to our side and wage your own war on your fellow Sailor Scouts and that ultra-pathetic boyfriend of yours. You could be tortured for information before being executed, or maybe they've got a plan of their own. Either way, these are the final few weeks, maybe months if you're lucky, of your life." Malachite slowly lowered his face closer to hers as she began to squirm. "It's such a shame that something so beautiful has to go to waste." Powerless to do anything, Raye shook her head in horror and extreme fear as Malachite kissed her on the lips. After a few moments, Malachite moved his head away from the petrified Raye, tears rolling down her face as she screamed out for help, her dignity torn away from her.  
"You... you animal!!!" Malachite began to laugh, mocking Raye's overwhelming sense of fear.  
"Aren't I just?" Unable to take being humiliated and violated any further, Raye spat in the general's face. Still smiling, the general slowly wiped away her saliva from his right cheek. "Oh believe me, the worst is yet to come..." Malachite turned around and left the room, leaving Raye alone in her own fears.

* * *

_Int. Hiwaka Shrine - October 23rd 2002, 11:40 pm._

"Well this is a mystery..." Luna closely examined the large pyramid, but seemed very puzzled. "No circuitry, no components, it's just a solid pyramid of a substance not even Mars' computer can recognise. We can't even send it down to Central for obvious security reasons. We know absolutely nothing."  
"Are you certain that there's absolutely nothing you can do? I mean, is there any way of reaching Raye?" Sailor Moon was fixated on the crystal pyramid as Sailor Jupiter paced back and forward.  
"Nothing at all. The best we can hope for is that she's either been brainwashed and is still in good shape, or that somehow she can miraculously escape. It looks bleak either way." The Mars Knight, still holding his head in his hands, sat up to ask a question.

"So, they're gonna make her work on their side, and she's gonna fight us?" The wise old black cat looked back at him in sorrow, understanding his pain.  
"Maybe. It's already happened to us twice before when Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon's daughter were brainwashed by the dark forces. The Dark Kingdom had turned them against us and had ordered them to attack us on several occasions. It'll probably be inevitable that Sailor Mars will attack us, which is why we need you." The Mars Knight slowly rolled his eyes towards the cat in saddened interest.  
"Where do I fit in with this?"  
"On the Day of Destiny six years when we managed to bring Tuxedo Mask back onto our side, the key to ridding him of the evil that Beryl had filled him with was his eternal love Sailor Moon. The same can be said for her daughter Rini when she was taken by Wiseman. If we're to get her back, we have to try and find her true love, which I'm seriously hoping is you, since she has no family that we know of in the future." The Mars Knight leant forward in shock at Luna's speech.  
"Did you just say 'True Love'? I mean, could our relationship be more that just an average crush?"  
"I don't know. Recently the timeline has been changing at such an increadable rate because of this new assault by the Negaverse. I won't be able to tell you anything until this crisis dies down."

A few anxious moments of silence filled the room as the capture of their freind hit home. Unable to cope, Sailor Venus quickly found a question to ask.  
"So what's the plan? What do we do with this thing?"  
"As I said, I don't know what it is nor can we send it down to Central, but Artemis is back at Central browsing through the files the Mars Knight managed to steal. He's already told me that some of the files contain very delicate information about the Dark Kingdom, so it shouldn't be too long until he finds a lead. Until then, we're going to have to have two scouts guarding this at a time." The cat looked back towards the group. "Any voulenteers to stay here until six am?" The Mars Knight and Sailor Venus slowly raised their hands.

"I'll stay. I've got a serious score to settle with Malachite if he dares to turn up here again." As he slowly stood up and limped towards the pyramid, Sailor Jupiter took the opportunity to take another dig at him.  
"Do you really think you can stand up to him in that state? I've seen crushed bugs in better shape!" The Mars Knight quickly turned around to confront the spiteful Scout.  
"I'm more than capable. I believe it'll take more than sly insults alone to win this war." Fuming with rage, Sailor Jupiter was about to walk right up to the Mars Knight before Sailor Venus stood between them.  
"Hey, calm down you two. Jupiter, just let him work this shift if he wants to. Just let him be. He is Raye's boyfriend after all." Sailor Jupiter looked extremely close to exploding.  
"I don't care if he's the Emperor of Japan! He's weak! He wouldn't last five minutes if he was alone!"

"Neither would you." The voice of Tuxedo Mask echoed behind Sailor Jupiter with a serious undertone. "Even though I was posessed by the evil forces at the time, I still clearly remember that time six years ago when I had managed to corner you on your own. You showed an extreme look of fear in your eyes. You were scared of me." Sailor Jupiter began to tremble slightly. "If Mercury hadn't have turned up, my posessed self probably would have done some serious harm to you. Next time you pick on someone because of their weakness, just remember your own moments of weakness." Having proven his point to Sailor Jupiter, he turned to face the others. "Anyway, Luna has the final say in this. Do you think he's fit enough to stand guard?"  
"If he claims he is, I have no objections. If there are any problems, he's got Sailor Venus with him to help defend the temple." The hot-headded Sailor Jupiter shook her head in disgust as Luna's decision.  
"What?! I've heard enough! I'm outta here! See you at six!" Seriously offended, Sailor Jupiter stormed out of the temple as Sailor Moon and Luna shook their heads in disappointment.

"Just ignore her, Mars. She just has no idea about what you're really like. We'll come back for you two at six with the latest information. If anything major comes up before then, we'll contact one of you on your communicator. Artemis has almost configured the medium range scanners, so we'll be monitoring the crystal's activity from Central. If anyone teleports here using that crystal, you must contact us immediately for backup. This is a top priority situation. Do you both understand?" The Mars Knight stood by Sailor Venus' side as the cat explained.  
"Yes. We understand." replied the two senshi in unison.

"Good. I shall explain the situation to the outers in the morning. Sailor Moon and Sailor Jupiter will take over from you at six am sharp, providing we still can't safely analyse or deactivate it. Good night and good luck." Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask transformed back into their civilian selves as Luna lept up into Serena's arms.  
"Yeah, goodnight guys. See ya in the morning. I'll see if I can talk some sense into Lita before then." 

* * *

_Int. "The War Room", Negaverse command centre - October 24th 2002, Midnight._

An emergency meeting had been called by Malachite that night to decide the fate of the captured Mars senshi. In the War Room the three main parties and their generals had gathered around the large discussion table in the darkened room. At one end sat Queen Beryl clad in her usual violet dress, her general Malachite at her side, at the other the cloaked demonic figure of Wiseman and the crystal-white Prince Diamond. Professor Tomoe, dressed in his usual lab attire, sat directly in the middle of the the two. Malachite slowly stood up to address everyone else as the doors to the War Room slammed shut.

"I'd like to thank everyone here for attending this emergency meeting which I shall chair on this occasion. Within the past hour-and-a-half an important development in our war against the Moon Kingdom has occured. Thanks to the prototype of Professor Tomoe's transporter and some extreme luck we managed to capture Sailor Mars at twenty-two thirty hours on October 23rd 2002. I have called this meeting to discuss what we should do with our prisoner to assist in our war against the Moon Kingdom.

"As you know, several options are available at this present moment of time. I would like to open this discussion by expressing my personal preference. Sailor Mars, as you know, can be a very stubborn personality, probably the most stubborn out of the six inner Sailor Scouts. It is for this reason that I personally believe that torture is not a very efficient method of using her to our advantage, since extracting information from her would be, as you would say, like drawing blood from a stone.

"A method which has proved very popular in the past is brainwashing. This has brought us a considerable amount of success in the past for all of us. For myself and Queen Beryl, we managed to successfully brainwash Prince Endymon, who proved a valuble ally until the very final battle. I do believe Wiseman had a shorter, but just as successful spell when he managed to turn Sailor Chibi-Moon against her mother. Finally, we have proof of brainwashing in action in this very room. Professor Tomoe five years ago had been brainwashed into believing that he was on the side of the Moon Kingdom until a few weeks ago, when Negaverse America's scientists successfully managed to bring him back to our side. In my personal opinion this is one of the best and most reliable ways to fight against the Moon Kigdom." Wiseman raised his hand as he asked a question to the general.

"Yes, but hasn't brainwashing always lead to our defeat in the end? We've come very close with those sub-tactics, but it just isn't enough." Malachite took a deep breath as he continued to explain his views.  
"That leads me onto my view on why I believe brainwashing Sailor Mars would be an ideal candidate for brainwashing. In the past, a brainwashed person has been brought back to their own side either by their true love or someone from their direct family. According to my analysis of the future, Sailor Mars has no true love, although the timeline is something subject to constant change. She definately has no immediate surviving family from the future or Silver Millenium, and she has only known the Mars Knight for just over a month, so I wouldn't exactly class him as her true love. That's just my belief though. If anyone wishes to express their own views or ideas, feel free to do so."

Malachite sat down to a few claps as Professor Tomoe stood up to voice his views.  
"I personally agree with Malachite with that statement. From what I've seen, brainwashing seems like the most effective method at this present moment of time. However, on a slightly off-topic note, if we are to take any action we must do it within twelve hours. As you well know, earlier tonight our mainframe was hacked from Earth and our most up-to-date versions of our plans were stolen. However, luckily the last backup session had taken place just five hours earlier, so very little was lost." The Professor paused as he picked up a crystal pyramid identical to the one the Mars Knight pulled out of the fire and placed it on the table.

"However, amongst those plans were the locations of the five portal beacons. The one at the Hiwaka shrine has alredy been uncovered and is under surveilance by Moon Kingdom Central. Since it is so late at night I believe that the Scouts won't start searching for the other four until sunrise in Japan. I suggest we use this opportunity to use our new comrade by ordering her to move the undisclosed portal beacons to new locations. That is, however, should you choose to take that option. If you do, I can probably make her a fully-pledged Death Scout fighter and bring her up to full health within ninety minutes." The Professor sat back down smiling as Malachite spoke once more.

"Thank you Professor Tomoe. Anything else anyone want to say?" All the other simply shook their heads. "No? Okay. This house believes that Sailor Mars should be brainwashed and used to move the four portal beacons as well as fight the Moon Kingdom. All in favour say 'I.'"  
"I." the four other leaders replied in unison.  
"All against?" The room fell silent. "Okay, it's settled then. Professor, you've got ninety minutes to completely remove any trace of the Moon Kingdom from her head. Your Majesty and Wiseman, myself and Prince Diamond shall deliver reports to you both on the hour for the next twelve hours." The evil Queen stood up to address her general.  
"Thank you. Your hard work is greatly appreciated."

* * *

_Int. Hiwaka shrine - October 24th 2002, 4:10 am._

It had been over four hours since the Mars Knight and Sailor Venus had taken the role of guarding the portal beacon, and both were sitting down either side of it with warm drinks in their hands, Sailor Venus with a coffee and the Mars Knight with a traditional British cup of tea. Both seemed extremely anxious, knowing that a Dark Kingdom fighter could emerge at any second, but they knew they had to keep calm.

"Sailor Venus?" The blonde looked up from her coffee and turned in the Mars Knight's direction.  
"Yes?"  
"There's some things I've always wanted to ask you, things about your days in London as Sailor V." A small smile emerged on her face at the mention of her former, more famous identity.  
"Fire away."  
"You were famous in England in 1996, about the same time when I first discovered that I was the Mars Knight. How did it feel when you found out that there was more Moon Kingdom fighters in England?" Sailor Venus gave a small laugh as the Mars Knight smiled back at her.  
"I knew from the start that the Knights existed in England. I was only there to train my abilities since Japan had such a low crime rate. When I heard the Knights and the Sailor Scouts were awakening, I immediately flew back to Tokyo to join my fellow Scouts. I knew there was going to be war on four fronts, and I knew that the Knights would be more than capable to defend themselves and England." The mention of the other Knights brought an infamous memory to the Mars Knight's head.

"Speaking of the Knights," The Mars Knight loaded up a picture of the Mercury Knight on his DataPad before handing it to Sailor Venus. "Do you think this guy's cute?"  
"Wow. What a hunk..." exclaimed the blonde senshi as the Mars Knight smirked.  
"That's the Mercury Knight. I can't tell you his civvy name because of this portal thing, but he was my best mate at school. You won't believe the crush he had on you! I think he still likes you now as well. If you're thinking of going back to England someday, I'll arrange you two a date if you want." Giggling in embarassment, Sailor Venus handed the DataPad back to the Mars knight.  
"Okay then, I'm game. I've got nothing going for me here apart from university and my friends. The only guy I ever loved left to make things up with his ex in South Africa two years ago." With sudden interest, the Mars Knight looked back at the Venus senshi.

"Really? That must've been a bit of a blow for you." Sighing and looking down towards the floor, Sailor Venus searched for a reply.  
"Yeah. His name was Andrew. His father used to own the crown arcade in the Juuban district just north of here, but he was bought out two years ago. His father went to America while he went to South Africa. His ex-girlfriend's name was Rita, she left about five years ago for South Africa. I've gotten over him a long time ago, but there's one regret I've always had since."  
"What's that?" A small, slightly pained smile appeared on her face.  
"I never told him my feelings for him. I always thought that he'd turn me down, even when Rita had left for South Africa. I tried many times to get him on his own to tell him, but even then I didn't have the courage. For that I paid the price." She was trying her best to keep herself smiling, but it was obvious she was struggling with her emotions. The Mars Knight knew he had to try and shift her focus off Andrew, but the first thing that popped to his head was one of his most painful memories.

"I know the feeling exactly. Back in my first year in sixth form, when I was seventeeen, I had a major crush on someone who was in most of my classes. This had gone on for several months, and when I finally found out that she had no boyfriend, I tried to get her on her own to ask her out. It wasn't easy though, she had two best friends who were the two school gossip-mongers. That lunchtime I did get her on her own, and was about to ask her out until her two friends appeared. When they did, I bottled out, not wanting to be the victim of a rumour mill. I left, and asked myself for the rest of the day why I didn't have the strength to ask her out." His deep breaths began to tremble as Sailor Venus leaned in his direction. "That was the final chance I ever got to ask her out. That night she was killed when her dad's car collided with a stolen car going at sixty miles an hour."

"My god! How awful!" The Mars Knight paused to take another very deep breath as he closed his eyes, visibly shaking.  
"I know. The entire lower sixth form of Southampton Secondary School went to her funeral a week later. February 24th, what would've been her seventeenth birthday. That was honestly the most heart-wreneching, emotional two-and-a-half hours I've ever had in my life. Just seeing her there, white as a sheet and stone-cold. It was just something I would have never ever anticipated. It was-" The Mars Knight was stopped when he felt something touch his lips, something that felt like silk. As he opened his eyes, he saw that it was a finger inside a white glove. The other hand, also wearing a white glove, covered his eyes as finger was replaced by a pair of lips.

Unable to see, he ran his hand down her back to check her hair length, which went down to below the base of her back, the place where the Mars Knight stopped and moved hand away, not going any further for obvious reasons. Long hair? Surely it couldn't be Sailor Venus, could it? With the mystery woman still kissing him, he moved his hand up to the back of her head to check if there was a large bow tied into her hair. He moved his hand along the top of her head, but there was nothing. No bow. Upon realising this, he grabbed the woman's hand and pulled it away from his sunglasses, realising who the only other straight senshi with long, straight hair could be. As he saw the woman's face a large smile of relief emerged on his face.

"Oh my goodness! Is it really you?"

* * *

**_End of Chapter 14_**


	15. Dark Flame

_Disclaimers/Author's Notes: Yep, yep. I own nothing on page 1._

_Reivew Replies:__  
_**_Princess Ren:_**_ Glad to see you're still enjoying the story. I hope all your questions are answered here ^,^  
_**_JadesRose: _**_Yes there are five main inner senshi, but there are seven if you include Rini and Chibi-chibi, maybe eight if you class Tuxedo Mask as a senshi. Either way I was wrong by saying there were six. Gomen._

**Chapter XV: Dark Flame.**

"You look glad to see me again." The Mars Knight started to laugh with extreme relief as he realised that it was Sailor Mars that had just kissed.  
"How did you get out of there so soon? I mean, it's almost a miracle you're back here!" Sailor Mars held him closer as she sat down on his lap.  
"Well, they untied me from my restraints when they gave me some food that tasted like crap, so I used the opportunity to transform and break out." The Mars Knight hugged her tightly before looking to his left.  
"Hey Venus, she's -" Sailor Venus was unconscious, the golden hair on the back of her head bloodstained. "What the hell?!" The Mars Knight looked back at Sailor Mars, who had an evil grin on her face.  
"Surprise!" The Mars Knight was taken completely by surprise as Sailor Mars headbutted him directly on the forehead, knocking him out instantly. She kissed him one last time before standing up, taking the crystal portal beacon away with her. 

"Sweet dreams, my love."

* * *

_Int. Moon Kingdom Central, Tokyo Base - October 24th 2002, 4:30 am._

It was half four, and a very tired Artemis was still searching through the many large files, looking for clues as to what the Dark Kingdom could be planning once they had reached Earth through the portal beacons, as well as monitoring the activity of the portal beacon at the Hiwaka shrine.  
"Ten hours through a thirty-six hour shift... This is gonna be a long day..." the white cat yawned to himself as he called up the stats of the Hiwaka shrine portal beacon.  
_Current status: Unknown  
Current Energy Reading: 0.0.0.0_

_Log for past 30 minutes:__  
0420 // Status: Unknown // Reading: 0.0.0.0  
0410 // Status: Active // Reading: -149.69.201.41  
0400 // Status: Active // Reading: -149.69.201.41_

"What the?..." Artemis seemed very worried by the figures as he called up some more stats.  
_Lifeform Scanners // Hiwaka 1:__  
Filters In Place: Humanoid only.  
_**_0430_**_ [SCAN IN PROGRESS] // 2 matches in past 1 minute 24 seconds  
225.62.77.56 Identified as Mars Knight  
225.83.125.77 Identified as Sailor Venus_

**_0420 _**_//_****_3 matches in past 10 minutes:  
225.62.77.56 Identified as Mars Knight  
225.83.125.77 Identified as Sailor Venus  
_**_!!! -225.62.77.77 Unidentified Dark Kingdom Fighter._**

**_0410_**_ // 2 matches in past 10 minutes:  
225.62.77.56 Identified as Mars Knight  
225.83.125.77 Identified as Sailor Venus_

"Wait a minute! That signiature looks like Sailor Mars' signiature!" Tapping a few more buttons, the cat tried to contact the Venus senshi. "Venus! Come in!" There was no reply. All he could hear was the static from the communicators. "Venus! Are you there?! Come in!" Still there was no reply from the senshi of love. Starting to panic, the white cat opened a link to Luna's communicator.

* * *

_Int. Chiba residence - October 24th 2002, 4:32 am._

All was silent in the home of Darien and Serena, all except the snoring of Serena echoing throughout the first floor. In a cosy corner of the kitchen below slept the small black figure of Luna in a small basket, worn out by the worry of earlier events. However, that silence was soon to be rudely shattered as an alarm sounded from the small communicator inside a pouch in the basket. The black cat nearly lept up to the ceiling as she answered the call.

"Who's is it?" Luna sounded very displeased with such a rude awakening.  
"It's Artemis. I need you to get down to Central and send Serena and Darien to the Hiwaka shrine. We've got a level three situation. The sensors have picked up a Dark Kingdom signiature that looks similar to Sailor Mars' within the past twenty minutes. The portal beacon's gone as well." Luna made her way to her feet as Artemis alerted her of the shocking news.  
"You're kidding me, right?"  
"I'm not joking. I'm not getting any replies from Venus or the Mars Knight, so I'm getting a bit worried. Just get here ASAP."  
"Will do. Luna out." As the white cat's face disappeared from the screen, Luna dashed out of the kitchen and up the stairs to get to Serena and Darien's bedroom.

"Wake up you two! We've got a level three going on!" The cat lept up onto the bed and started to tap Darien's face, knowing she would get a more civilised responce from him.  
"Unh... Luna?" Darien sat up slowly as he tried to free his arm from underneath Serena.  
"The portal beacon's gone from the Hiwaka shrine. Artemis also thinks that Sailor Mars is back. Sailor Venus and the Mars Knight aren't responding, so we need you two to check it out as soon as possible. I'm going back to central to help him." Finally managing to free his arm, Darien nudged his meatball-hair senshi girlfriend awake before searching for his own transformation pen, a small crystal rose.

"Darien..." Serena pulled the covers over her head, too tired to get up.  
"Serena, you've gotta get up. There's something going on at the Hiwaka shrine and Sailor Venus and the Mars Knight aren't responding. Artemis thinks Raye's back as well. Luna says she's going back to Central to help Artemis." Upon hearing her best friend being mentioned, Serena lept out of bed and grabbed the crystal locket from her bedside table.  
"What're we waiting for then? Let's go!"

* * *

_Ext. Hiwaka shrine - October 24th 2002, 4:50 am_

The air was filled with an uneasy silence as the faint red glow of the morning sunrise filled the clear sky. At the foot of the large steps to the magnificent Hiwaka shrine, Serena and Darien raced towards the summit, desperate to find out exactly what had happened.  
"Almost there..." The anxiety was apparant on Serena's face as she approached the summit.  
"Yeah. We've just got to get to the top of these steps." The crystal transformation rose in his hands, Darien picked up speed as he reached the top and dashed to the temple door, waiting for his trailing girlfriend before continuing. As he opened the large panel door, he made his way to the lounge as Serena checked out the prayer room.

"Oh my god... DARIEN!" cried Serena at the top of her voice as she slid open the large door at the entrance to the prayer room. As the tall man of honour appeared at her side, they both raced over to the two injured senshi by the great fire, Darien tending to the Mars Knight while Serena checked out Sailor Venus.  
"He's out cold, but he's breathing." Darien took a closer look at the Mars Knight's forehead, intreagued by the strangely familiar shape of the bruise in the centre. "Hey Serena, what d'ya reckon this bruise looks -"  
"Oh god... Darien! Get me the first aid kit! She's got a massive gash down the back of her head!" Starting to panic, Serena grabbed her communicator as Darien left to search for the first aid kit. "Luna! Get sickbay ready! They're both unconscious, and Sailor Venus has been struck pretty hard on the back of the head! She's bleeding!" 

"Serena. Just keep calm. I'll get Artemis to set up the emergency transporter in a moment. What's the extent of the Mars Knight's injuries?" Serena rushed over to the Mars Knight as Darien returned with a fair amount of bandages.  
"Erm, let me see... He's got a large red mark on his forehead. Looks like he's been headbutted." As Serena moved closer to the Mars Knight's face, she noticed a certain area had become redder than the rest of his forehead. "What the?... He's got a mark on his head that looks like our tiaras!"  
"Mars... Artemis was right..." Luna looked anxiously away from the screen before continuing. "The only other person I can think of that would hit him would be Jupiter, and she didn't turn up on the scans." To Serena's right, Darien tended to Sailor Venus' injuries.

"If she's knocked her boyfriend out cold, she's definately not going to show any mercy for anyone." Looking at the Mars Knight's calm face, she faintly heard Artemis' voice in the background calling Luna.  
"Artemis says he's got the transporter ready to take Sailor Venus. Tell Darien to stand five feet back otherwise it'll take him up as well." Serena looked back up at Darien, who was securing Sailor Venus' head bandage into place.  
"Darien! Stand back! Artemis is ready to transport." The tall man walked away from the injured venus senshi as she slowly disappeared in a large orange ball of light.  
"Okay. We've got her. Look after the Mars Knight at the temple. His injuries don't seem too serious so he might come back around soon, plus you'll need him to help find what weapon was used to attack Sailor Venus."  
"What does Mars intend to do now that she's here?"

"There are too many possibilities at this moment, but judging by the fact that the beacon at the shrine's gone missing I presume that she's changing the locations of the beacons. I've already sent the outers on a search for the other four beacons, which we hope to beat Sailor Mars to. I'm reluctant to send Sailor Jupiter out, so she's still at home cooling down after earlier. After that we've got no choice but to keep the beacons in Central's armoured vaccuum chamber so that any attacker couldn't survive should they transport there." Serena nodded in agreement with the black cat's idea.  
"Sounds good to me. Keep us informed and I'll tell you when the Mars Knight comes back around."  
"Understood. Luna out."

* * *

_Ext. Television Tower, Central Tokyo - 5:00 am, October 24th 2002._

"I hate early mornings, and I hate climbing up large towers at five a.m. even more! And of all days for the elevators to be out of order!" Sailor Uranus was clearly unimpressed with her early wake-up call. Her girlfriend was one to always rise early, but she enjoyed her rest. The situation was even worse for Sailor Saturn, who had school in just under four hours. The trio made their way up the steps at a pace as they reached the 30th level.  
"Tell me about it! I've got exams next week, so I need my rest! Anyway, these boots are killing me on these steps!"  
"Come on girls, we're here now, and we're on a mission. Anyway, we've got to save our strength for these steps. We've still got another sixty levels to go."  
"What?! We've already been climbing these steps for nearly twenty minutes! We've still gotta keep going for another forty minutes?!"  
"Stop complaining Saturn! Anyway, it's not often we get a job more important than the inners." The green-haired senshi of the sea tried to look on the bright side as the other two continued to grumble.  
"What inner senshi? Mercury's in Germany, Mars has been captured, Chibi-Moon's in the thirtieth century and Chibi-Chibi-Moon gone to goodness knows where." Saturn seemed very pained and unusually red in the face with the rigourous exercise.  
"And Venus has been whacked on the head as well, so she's out." Saturn and Neptune stopped and looked back at Uranus in disbelief.  
"What did you say?"  
"About forty minutes ago, about ten minutes before we got the callout. They're saying Sailor Mars came back through the portal beacon at the shrine and whacked her on the back of the head with an unknown weapon." Saturn and Neptune's jaws dropped in shock as Uranus continued to tell the story. "She then went and headbutted the Mars Knight, knocking him out cold." The green-haired senshi of the sea jogged ahead of the other two before looking back in slight worry.  
"All the more reason why we've got to get up there soon. Let's keep going."

* * *

_Int. Hiwaka Shrine - October 24th 2002, 5:10 am._

"Hey Darien! He's waking up!" The Mars Knight's arms began to twitch as Serena rushed towards him. As he slowly began to regain consciousness, he reached behind his sunglasses and transformed back into Mark, a very pained and tired look on his face.  
"Unh... My head..." His vision was slightly blurred at first, but he instantly recognised the blonde meatball-head figure of Serena before him.  
"Mark, don't speak. You need rest." Mark raised hand and held his forehead, but instantly jolted in pain.  
"Ow! This just isn't my day. Having the energy sapped out of me, scorching my hand in a raging fire and now being headbutted by my own girlfriend." Darien entered the room and instantly ran up to Mark.  
"What do you know? What happened to Sailor Venus?"  
"Do I know you? I'm sure I've seen you somewhere before." Serena, realising Darien and Mark had never met in civilian form before, thought it would introduce them to each other.  
"Oh, I don't think you've met Darien like this before. Mark, this is Darien Chiba, my boyfriend. Darien, this is Mark Davison. Mark, Darien is Tuxedo Mask." Mark slowly raised his hand, which Darien didn't hesitate to shake.

"Pleased to meet you, Mark."  
"No, the pleasure's all mine."  
"So what did you see?" Mark closed his eyes upon hearing Darien's question, trying to remeber what happened.  
"The last thing I remember, me and Venus were talking about stuff. I closed my eyes as I told her a story about something that happened a few years ago, and when I opened them Sailor Mars was sitting on my lap. When I looked over at Sailor Venus she was unconscious with blood down the back of her head. When I looked back at Sailor Mars, she was grinning. Before I got chance to say anything else, she gave me the old Glasgow kiss, and now I'm here with a bloody big headache." Looking out through the open door leading to the wooden walkway, he noticed that the sky was a bloody shade of crimson above the sunrise. "By the way, what time is it?"

"A quarter past five in the morning. Why d'ya ask?"  
"Oh, nothing. Just wondering how long I've been unconscious." The thought of the five portal beacons suddenly crossed his mind as he felt for his datapad. "What about the four other portals though? Mars already took the first one. We need to beat her to the other four."  
"We've got that covered. We've sent the outers to television tower to find the beacon there." He looked back up at Serena in slight confusion as he loaded the stolen files.  
"But why only go after one beacon at a time? We're outnumbering her five-to-one at the moment, so why don't we split to get the other three beacons?" Serena glanced at Darien, not sure what logical thing to say.

"I don't think it's safe to work in pairs anymore after earlier, plus we don't know if she's working alone, nor do we know if that's the first beacon she's moved or not. I'll ask Lita to snoop around the University later to see if she can find the beacon."  
"I'll go as well." Serena looked down at Mark slightly puzzled as he sat up straight.  
"Are you sure that's wise? You two aren't exactly the best of friends, are you? I mean, she came close to completely losing her temper earlier."  
"I know. I don't find her the friendliest of people, but we've gotta work together if we're to get that beacon before Sailor Mars." Another thought crossed his mind as he thought of Raye and the University. "Wait, it's Thursday. Half day for Music M1. She'll be at the Uni later."  
"So if she has any sense she'll turn up as usual to her classes." Serena was beginning to get an idea of what was going on. "Everyone else won't suspect a thing, and if she stays amongst people, the Scouts can't do a thing. The sneaky cow can do whatever she wants, and play the victim if she does come under attack."

Mark slowly stood up and walked towards the exit of the prayer room before Serena confronted him.  
"Hey! Where are you going?"  
"To get ready for Uni. If I get back before half five, no-one'll in the apartment would suspect I've been gone. If anyone asks about my head, I'll just say I walked into a wall when I wasn't concentrating. We need to play her at her own game and let her make the first move. I'll call Lita's communicator myself and tell her everything and pray that she doesn't hang up."  
"Is that wise?"  
"It's the only realistic plan can think of if we're to beat her to the beacon at the University. If Sailor Mars knows the exact location me and Lita can follow her and snatch it from her." Realising his point, Serena stepped aside.  
"Go ahead then. Good luck to you, you'll need it against Lita." Looking over his shoulder at Serena with a grin, he soon disappeared out of the main door. "Darien, get your Tux on. We're going to the mall."

* * *

_Int. Top level, Tokyo Television Tower, Central Tokyo - 5:30 am._

"Finally... Now we can look for this little bastard..." The three outer senshi had finally reached the top of the Television Tower and the transmitters and look for the portal beacon. They were very worn out after the long hike, but seemed victorious by their achivement. Sailor Uranus wasted no time in looking for their target.  
"I'm kinda glad this glaive can double up as a walking stick. I thought we'd never get up here." The young senshi of death knelt down and rubbed her aching legs, wishing she could just take off her high-heeled purple boots.  
"I'll search round the other side. You two look around here." Sailor Neptune carefully made her way around the circular platform, the winds blowing at an increadable rate. As she approached the opposite side, she saw the edge of a young woman around the corner. As she slowed down and carefully made her way around, she noticed the woman had raven hair and was wearing a fuku like hers, her small skirt as crimson red as the morning sky. It was Sailor Mars.

"Mars! Hold it right there!" The posessed senshi slowly turned around to face Sailor Neptune, a large crystal pyramid in her left hand. In her right hand was a pole covered in a red textile; It was uncertain to tell what it was.  
"Neptune, my dear friend. It's a suprise to see you here." Sailor Mars menacingly approached Sailor Neptune, who was backing off cautiously.  
"Don't try and kid yourself Mars. There's no escape. Just come with us and you'll be safe."  
"No. The number one rule when approaching an enemy is to know exactly what you're dealing with." Without warning Sailor Mars struck Sailor Neptune in the stomach with the pole and pushed her over the edge of the platform's safety rails.

Upon hearing the screams of Sailor Neptune, the other two immediately ran to her aid, but she was no longer there. Only Sailor Mars stood on the platform, still with the beacon and pole in her hands. Sailor Uranus started to panic, fearing her love had just been knocked off the top of the tower, while Sailor Saturn held her glaive threateningly at the renegade Scout.  
"Where is she? Tell me!"  
"By my calculations, she's just passing the 50th floor about now and will be at the fortieth floor in about five seconds." Realising what Sailor Mars was talking about, she swiped at the rebel scout with her glaive of death. Sailor Mars swiftly deflected this with the pole before striking the senshi of death on the back of head, knocking her to the floor.

"Sayonara, suckers!" With Saturn clutching her head, Sailor Mars unfolded the metal pole into a frame and stretched the red material into place to make a hang glider. Harnessing herself in, she lept from the platform and sailed in the direction of Cherry Hill. Sailor Uranus had not noticed Sailor Saturn sprawled on the floor, instead mourning the fact that her girlfriend had plummeted to her death.  
"Michelle... This isn't possible... You can't be dead..." The tomboyish blonde fell to her knees in tears as reality sunk in.  
"Uranus! HELP!" Not sure whether she was imagining her girlfriend's voice or not, she looked around to see if she had miraculously survived.  
"Neptune? Where are you?!"  
"Right below you! Pull me up now or you're not getting any tonight!" Sailor Uranus looked at the floor below her to see two white-gloved hands gripping the meshed platform. Without hesitation she dragged the senshi of the sea back up to the platform and held her tightly.

"You're alive! I can't believe it!"  
"Thanks... I've never see you like this before. I thought you were supposed to be tough one out of us two."  
"I thought Sailor Mars had sent you falling to your death! Wouldn't you be crying if I fell off the top of this tower?!" Sailor Uranus sounded angry, but Sailor Netune knew that she was just very upset.  
"I dunno..." Sailor Uranus looked up at her girlfriend with a deeply hurt look on her face before Sailor Neptune giggled. "Of course I would, hun. D'ya really think I'd think nothing of you? I love you, and if you go, I'd take my own life just to be with - SATURN!!" Realising that the senshi of death was sprawled on the floor, the pair dashed over to her side.

"Saturn! Are you alright?" The young senshi slowly opened her eyes to see the senshi of Neptune and Uranus kneeling over her.  
"Ow... My head... Mars whacked me with some kind of pole." Sailor Neptune grabbed her communicator as Uranus questioned Saturn further.  
"Where's Mars? Did you see her?"  
"Yeah. That pole unfolded into a hang glider and she flew off towards Cherry Hill." Neptune quickly turned around and addressed Saturn and Uranus.  
"We're gonna have to go back down the long way. Artemis says there's too much interference from the transmitters."  
"Do you feel alright to get down by foot?" Saturn grabbed the rail to her side and made her way to her feet.  
"A litle dizzy, but I think I can get down." Neptune lead the way as they began the long decent back to the ground.

"Lets just hope the others have got the other beacons covered..."

* * *

_Int. Apartment 211, Hiwaka View Apartments - October 24th 2002, 5:45 am._

"Time to call the wicked witch of the East..." In the fifteen minutes in which Mark had made it back to the apartment, he had managed to shut down the laptop he had left on all night, get changed and get an ice pack for his head. Now it was time to talk to Lita, something that Mark was not looking forward to at all. He opened his communicator program, selected Sailor Jupiter from the list and patiently waited as Lita picked up at the other end.

"Hi. Lita here." Her half smile turened into shock as she realised who had called her. "What the hell are you calling me for?!"  
"Lita! Don't hang up! We need your help!" Lita seemed very unimpressed.  
"No-one needs my help anymore. Not after last night. You and Mina looking after that beacon when you knew you were too weak. By the way, did everything go well between you two?" At that point Mark knew Lita was going to have a field day once he told her what happened and he knew that her foul insults would fly, but he had to tell her the whole truth.

"Sailor Mars took it. She severely injured Venus and headbutted me before leaving with the portal beacon."  
"I knew it! You're just a simple-minded weakling who can't even stand up to your own girlfriend! You truely are pathetic!"  
"Lay off it Lita. She's already got one beacon, she might be racing the outers to the one at the top of TV tower and she's probably going to get the University portal beacon as a civilian. That's why I need your help." The tough senshi of the forest gave a sarcastic laugh.

"What kind of crazy, implausable, weed-induced plan have you got in mind?" Mark was becomming seriously angered by Lita's arrogance, but he knew he had to keep his cool.  
"We follow Raye around all day and let her lead us to the portal beacon. Once she has, we grab it from her before she lays her hands on it. Music M1's a half day today, so we've got until 1 pm to find it." A small smile emerged on Lita's smug face.  
"Hmm... Not bad. It'll do."  
"We'll have to stick together though. No arguments. Do you promise?" Lita thought it over for a while before reaching a decision.

"Whatever. See ya there. Lita out."

* * *

**_End of Chapter 15_**


	16. Times Like These

_Author's Notes/Disclaimer: Naoko Takeuchi owns the Sailor Scouts. I own the Knights and nothing else. There._

_**Review Replies:**_

_Rei:_ _Glad you like this story! Thanks for the support._

_Princess Ren:__ My most loyal reviewer returns! ^,^ I'm glad you're still enjoying the story. How Tomoe brainwashed Raye probably won't be officially mentioned in the story, but he used the usual Dark Kingdom tactics of bombarding her with hateful propaganda after using a device to "lock away" her happy memories of her friends in the back of her head. Hope that's cleared everything._

_Oh, and Sailor Mars is about to get a whole lot nastier in the coming chapters. Watch this space! =))_

_Fanfiction Fanatic:__ Hey, glad you like the story so much! Just don't die! I don't want to be arrested for murder by fanfiction! :(_

_Lord Vulcan:__ This bit of the story doesn't focus on Chad, but he does return in this chapter. I've also got a big surprise in store for Chad in the near future. Watch this space._

_JadesRose:__ Glad you like the action! Raye has been completely brainwashed by the Dark Kingdom, so she feels no emotions and has no mercy for anyone, not even for a friend she's known for nearly seven years, let alone her boyfriend. Don't worry, Chad will be happy in the end, but the reason why you'll have to wait for._

**Chapter XVI: Times Like These.**

_Ext. Arts Department Buliding, South Tokyo University - 24th October 2002, 8:15 am._

"You're late." Lita, wearing Jeans and a somewhat tight pea-green top, leant against the wall of the multi-storey building as Mark came into view.  
"Hey, I'm a good half hour earlier than usual. I don't see any reason to complain."  
"You're here. That's a good enough reason to complain."  
"Ah, just can it for once. We've got a mission to complete. We're here early so we can plan." Smirking at Mark with victory, Lita folded her arms and looked to the sky.

"So what d'ya know?" Lita looked down at her watch, seemingly uninterested by Mark.  
"She'll get here at quarter to nine with Chad, Sarah and Jack. I'll follow her around and keep you informed of where we are. If she does act suspiciously, I'll call you. How far's your lecture theatre from here?"  
"Not too far. It's the buliding with the clock tower."  
"Good. We can both follow her and if no-one's around we can transform and take the beacon by force." Lita burst out into laughter at Mark's idea.  
"Heh. What a half baked plan that is! You know Sailor Mars has turned psycho! She's already whooped your ass once before, and she'll do it again. Leave this to the professional." Mark simply smirked at Lita's big-headded comments.

"You can't be talking about yourself then. Anyway, what makes you so certain she won't kick your arse too?" Looking at Mark at slight anger, Lita clenched her fists.  
"Because I'm nowhere near as much of a loser as you. You're a computer geek who fights like a panzy and likes to bring his own kingdom down." Hearing Lita mention the Silver Millenium in that light sent a surge of rage up his spine, but he had to keep control.  
"Hey, just because I'm doing a course in computing doesn't mean I don't have a life. Anyway, we're supposed to be discussing what to do, not tearing each other apart." There was an anxious silence for a few moments as the pair sternly stared at each other. It was Lita that spoke first afterwards.

"There's one thing I don't get about you. Your girlfriend's been taken by the Dark Kingdom, brainwashed and sent to attack you, and you know that we'll have to fight and probably injure her to get her back onto our side, yet you don't seem upset at all." Mark took a deep, lonesome breath before continuing.  
"I've already had too much sorrow in this lifetime, knowing about the truth behind the Silver Millenium, losing Terri before I got the chance to tell her I loved her, leaving my friends in England behind to come here and not knowing my destiny. I've learnt how to cope with it and not let it show since it's best not to get too upset in times like theses when there's a chance to change the situation. Anyway, as far as I'm concearned we're not fighting Raye. She's got Raye's body, but she hasn't got Raye's sweet personality." Lita just shook her head in pity.  
"Geeze, you're starting to speak like Hotaru, gloom and doom etc. I'm guessing that's why you're an emotionless bastard then?"  
"Yeah. On the outside I show nothing, but on the inside I'm very pained. It's very hard, but the thought of my destiny and Raye is what keeps me going." Lita was astounded by how he could just conceal his emotions like that, but she still could not let herself show any sympathy for him.

"Can't say I feel sorry for you. I've been through a lot in my life as well, and I'm not gonna tell you what." Mark began to smile as he began to realise he was managing to get through to Lita's personality. He decided to try a bit of reverse psychology on her to learn a bit more about her.  
"Come on. It can't be any worse than my life. I mean, I'm stuck with the weight of the Silver Millenium on my shoulders." Lita began to tremble as Mark continued to question her.  
"No, to me it is worse."  
"Try me." It was apparant that it was working. Lita looked towards the floor in sadness before taking a deep breath.  
"This is a personal weight on my shoulders, nothing to do with the Moon Kingdom, in fact, nothing even close to the scale of that. Tell me, are both of your parents still alive today?"  
"Yeah." Lita looked back at Mark, her eyes beginning to water.  
"Mine aren't. They were killed in a plane crash eight years ago when I was only twelve. After that I lived with my grandma for a year until she died in her sleep. I've been living on my own ever since. I'm hoping to invite my boyfriend to move in with me soon but I just haven't been able to decide whether I should or not." After realising what she had just said, Lita exploded in a fit of rage and grabbed Mark by the collar.

"You little shit! I can't believe you! You tricked me into telling you my past! I could kill you!" Mark seemed slightly surprised, but he simply smiled.  
"Hey, just checking you were human. Anyway, I don't know how to get along with you if I know nothing about you." Lita was becomming more enraged by the second at Mark's tactics.  
"What make you think I'll ever get along with you?!"  
"Oh, nothing. I just like to think optimistically. I like to think that everyone can get along well with each other if they try."

Lita was struck by his philosophy. She knew he was right; Back in the days when they were last fighting evil, she had sometimes whether Serena and Raye would ever get along. That question had been answered in the weeks after Raye's suicide attempt when Serena did all she could to help her best friend on the road to recovery. Mark had an extremely good point, but she could not let it get to her. She still seriously distrusted him, and that view would remain strong for now.

* * *

_Moon Kingdom Central Tokyo Branch - 24th October 2002, 8:25 am._

That morning Serena and Darien had successfully take the portal beacon from the mall, but arrived back at Central that morning to discover that Raye had beaten the outers to the beacon at the top of Television tower. A boquet of flowers in hand, the pair had made their way to the medical room to see how their friend Mina was fairing.  
"Welcome back you two. You've done a good job getting that beacon back." The black cat rushed up to the pair as they slowly walked down the long corridoor.  
"Thanks Luna. How's Mina?"  
"She's become stable within the past half hour, but she did have quite a nasty blow to the head. We're not expecting her to be back in action until about mid-November, and we don't know if she'll end up with any brain damage. According to our analysis, she's very lucky to be alive. We don't know what exactly she was struck with, but we're presuming it was cylidrical since there are no cuts or gashes on her head." Serena seemed extremely shocked by the seriousness of her injuries.

"My god... I never thought they'd be that serious."  
"You can go see her if you want. She's in bay three. Just don't expect any replies, we don't think she'll come back around for another eighteen hours at the earliest." Serena and Darien livened their pace as they made their way towards the third recovery room.  
"How are the outers? I heard Hotaru and Michelle were hit pretty hard by Mars."  
"They're okay Darien, but Michelle was extremely close to falling from the tower. She was pushed over the edge by Mars and only just managed to hold onto the platform. Had she not got a grip, she'd be dead right now."

"She definately means business then. That's two senshi she's nearly killed in less than an hour and a half. There's no way we can get her back without a fight. We can only hope that we don't end up killing her." Serena looked back at her boyfriend in great worry at the mention of both Raye and death in the same sentance.  
"No Darien! Don't talk like that! We can get her back without harming her!" Starting to panic, Serena looked down at Luna. "What's the latest on the Mark and Raye theory? Are they tied by the red string of fate or something like that?"  
"I'm afraid red strings of fate is something we don't deal with. It can be extremely hard to track down so many destinies, so we don't bother. Sailor Pluto's compiling a report of destinies at the moment, and it should be ready by tomorrow lunchtime. Apart from that, we have nothing."  
"Are you serious? There's absolutely nothing on them at all?"  
"Nothing at all apart from the Silver Millenium story. The reason we're suspecting Mark ahead of anyone else is that on the eve of the Silver Millenium Princess Raye invited Prince Mark to the Silver Millenium ball." Serena quickly interupted the black cat.

"Yeah. I've told Darien about this. Mark leaves his post to join Raye at the ball, the pair get along very well leaving us all to wonder if they had a secret relationship. If that's anything to go by, that's pretty firm evidence in favour of our theory."  
"My thoughts exactly. It seems a pretty strong argument, but we can't be certain about anything. Here we are..." The trio reached the fairly large medical room before Serena dashed to her friend's side.

"Mina... Oh lord..." The blonde senshi of love seemed very peaceful in her sleep, the crown of her head tightly wrapped in bandages. At her bedside a monitor bleeped in time with her heartbeats. Small tears began to form in Serena's eyes as she reached for her friend's hand.  
"She seems so peaceful..." Darien approached the bed, putting a comforting arm around his girlfriend's shoulders.  
"Artemis has temporarily transformed into a human to set up the equipment, and all the information of Mina's health is being fed into the main computer. He's keeping a close eye on a lot of things here while I'm out and about keeping tabs on what's going on." Darien stepped back from the bed and looked down at Luna with anxiety.  
"He must be under a lot of stress then. Should I go to the control room and help him out?"  
"Please. I don't know how he'll react, but it would help a lot. This crisis has taken its toll on him."  
"Thank you Luna." Darien swiftly left the room to find Artemis as Serena sat down.

"I just can't believe this is happening. We're already weakened as it is without Amy, Rini and Trista, but now we're being swatted like flies. Those pieces of trash in their Dark Kingdom palace are just so cowardly, sending others out to do their dirtywork, yet I don't think even they anticipated how effective Mars would be. She's gonna completely clear the way for an invasion in weeks at this rate." Luna seemed quite worried at Serena's unusually philosophical comments, but knew that Sailor Mars was not as powerful on the dark side, despite early impressions.  
"Mars may be a skilled fighter, but she is by no means powerful, especially when fighting for the Dark Kingdom. Galaxia was the most powerful being in the Universe, and only she had the power to take the star seeds, so I doubt the new Dark Kingdom alliance will be able to repeat Galaxia's feat." Serena suddenly began to violently shudder for a few seconds, letting go of Mina's hand.

"Luna, please don't say _that name_. I still get nightmares from the final battles. The visions of losing my friends make me wake up in the middle of the night with a cold sweat."  
"Oh, I'm sorry Serena. I didn't realise."  
"It's okay." Serena sighed deeply as she looked back down at Mina. "This reminds me so much of Raye last september... It's Mina this time though..."

* * *

_Ext. Arts Department Buliding, South Tokyo University - 24th October 2002, 8:35 am._

"They must be late..." Mark impatiently looked down at his watch as Lita leant against the wall, a rather thick reading book in her hand.  
"Have you no patience? The busses are nothing like the bullet train. They usually end up stuck in the traffic jams." Lita didn't look up from her book, which she seemed to be deeply absorbed in.  
"Well, it's a matter of national security, so I'm starting to get a little anxious about the whole situation." Mark seemed quite worried, but Lita simply shrugged her shoulders.

"Mark, do you read books often?" Mark looked up at Lita, who still seemed absorbed by the book in her hand.  
"Yeah, fairly often. I'm in the middle of reading a book I got at Heathrow airport last month when I was about to fly here. It's called _The Moonlit Pegasus._ It was written by someone called Tomoko Takase, so I think it must have been translated from Japanese." Lita looked up from her book at Mark in a fair deal of surprise at the mention of the author.

"Did you just say Tomoko Takase?"  
"Yeah. Why d'ya ask?" Lita looked at Mark as if she'd seen a ghost.  
"What language is the book in?" Mark seemed slightly confused by Lita's questioning.  
"English. Why are you asking so much about this book?" A large smile emerged on Lita's face as she remembered her childhood friend.

"I knew Tomoko Takase. She was my best friend at Junior High before I moved to Juuban." Lita reached inside her black shoulder bag and pulled out a small book. Inside on one of the pages was a series of photos of herself with another girl. That girl was fairly tall, although a little shorter than Lita, had long, platted, dark blue hair and wore a pair of thin-rimmed circular glasses. Mark instantly recognised the girl.  
"Woah. You're not kidding. That looks like a younger version of the woman inside the front cover."  
"Yeah. I don't want to sound like I'm boasting or anything, but I was the one that read it by chance one day in '95 and told her to submit it to a magazine -" Mark quickly cut in with his own thoughts.  
"And over five years later she's a best-selling author in four countries." Lita seemed extremely surprised at Mark's comment.

"Four countries? How many translations have there been?"  
"Just to English at the moment. It's been number one in Japan, the United Kingdom, Ireland and the USA according to the sticker on the front." Lita bust out in to a fit of joyous laughter at her friend's achivement.  
"I don't believe it! I called her to congratulate her when it got to number one in Japan back in '97, but I never thought it'd be so popular around the world!" Lita seemed overjoyed at the news, but Mark quickly interupted her moment of joy.

"They're here." said Mark as Lita looked towards the road in the distance to see four figures emerging from the green and white bus - Jack, Sarah, Chad and Raye.  
"Time for action - wait a minute! Are you seeing what I think I'm seeing?" Mark peered wide-eyed in the direction of the four as Lita stared in total disgust.  
"Raye's got her arm around Chad..." Lita seemed to become enraged by what she was seeing.  
"That bitch! Why's she even thinking about being near him?! She's practially all over him!" Lita almost exploded while Mark seemed pretty calm as usual, although he had a slightly hurt expression on his face.

"She's not in control of her true self, remember? She's got the mind of a Negaverse soldier, and it looks like she's trying to wreck the civilian lives of the Moon Kingdom senshi as well as fighting them in battle. Like I said, this isn't Raye we're dealing with. Anyway, Chad doesn't look very happy at all." Lita was trying to keep her composure, but instead started to dash in the direction of the four students.  
"Who cares? There's one person I hate more that you, and that's Chad!" Mark ran after the fuming senshi of the forest, trying to avoid causing a riot. After chasing her for a few moments, he evetually caught up with her and grabbed her arm.

"We can't just go dashing in like that Lita! We're supposed to follow her around discretely and let her lead us to the portal beacon _before _we fight her. We just need patience." Lita promptly slapped him for grabbing her arm so tightly.  
"Look! You don't know how much of a monster Chad is! It was a reflex reaction!"  
"But we don't want to attract any attention. You keep a lookout while I chat to the others. I'll keep you informed. The lectures don't finish until half eleven, so the hour after that will be our key time." Lita was red in the face with anger, but she knew she had to keep her cool.  
"Whatever. I'm going. Call me if something's up." Lita hurried back to the arts building as Mark approached the four.

"Hey Raye!" The raven-haired woman looked up in surprise and quickly removed her arm from around Chad. Jack and Sarah had fairly worried expressions on their faces as Mark dashed towards them. Chad was the first to speak.  
"Hey Mark, my man! What're you doin' here so early dude?" Raye looked slightly confused at Chad as Mark simply smiled back at the mop-head guitarist.  
"Oh, just came here to admire the morning view. Stuff like that usually gives me inspiration for compositions." Chad nodded in agreement as Raye stepped forward.

"What did you just say then? I didn't quite understand that in English." Mark was astounded by Raye's beauty as he always was everytime he saw her, but he knew he couldn't let her get too close to him; For the moment they were still enemies.  
"Oh, I was just saying that I came here early this morning to watch the sunrise. It gives me inspiration for my music." replied Mark in Japanese. Mark knew there was something up with Raye, and not just the fact that she was a Negaverse soldier. She had a very anxious look on her face and was biting her bottom lip.  
"Mark, there's something I want to tell you." Mark knew that this was going to be bad news just by the look on Raye's face. Behind her, Chad translated what was being said to Sarah and Jack.  
"Be my guest."

"Mark, it's over. There's no way I can possibly go out with you in this present situation. It's been a good month, but I just want it to end." Mark knew she was going to say something along the lines of this. There was no way that Raye could be friends with the enemy, so this wasn't so much of a blow for Mark, but it was still very saddening and hard to take. For several moments Mark froze while Chad tried to rid the shock from his own mind and tell Sarah and Jack what was going on.

"Guys, she's just dumped him for, like, no reason. She's saying something about the _present situation_, but, like, not much else." Sarah and Jack looked back at Chad in shock before focussing on the face of a seemingly heartbroken Mark.  
"What?! I don't believe it! How could she dump him there and then? He's one of the greatest guys I've known!" Jack seemed very outraged by what was going on as Mark gave his reply to the brainwashed Raye.

"What _present situation_ are you talking about?" Mark spoke slowly and quietly as Raye listened carefully.  
"You know perfectly well Mark Davison, or should I call you -" Mark realised that she was about to give away his true identity, so he quickly interupted before Chad could hear.  
"Okay, I know what you're talking about. Just don't..." Raye slowly turned her attention to Chad as Mark watched in utter disbelief.

"As for you, Chad Kumada, I'd like to apologise for my bad behaviour towards you this past month. As a token of my appreciation, I would appreciate it if you became my boyfriend." Chad had unintentioally found himself there and then in the middle of a huge moral dilemma. On the one hand he was now faced with the situation he had so longed for, Raye offering to go back out with him. However, he couldn't help but look at the look of sheer dejection on the face of his new best friend. This was a situation that he didn't ever want to find himself in.

"Raye... I don't know what to say..."  
"Please?" Raye gave Chad a longing, hungered look, but Chad's mind was focussed elsewhere, focussed on his pity for Mark.  
"Raye. I can't. I don't see any good in going out with a girl that has just dumped my best friend less than a minute ago. I don't know about you, but I have morals. I can't bear to see one of the only friends I have left go through this. I also have a word which describes women like you, and I think I'm too polite to say it in public." A surge of anger shot through Raye from Chad's refusal to accept her.

"Chad! Please!!!" The mop-head guitarist folded his arms and took a tough stance as he walked over to Mark, ignoring Raye's pleas.  
"No! Do us all a favour Raye and go away! Can't you see you've broken the guy's heart?!" Raye was very tempted to grab the transformation pen from her bag and turn into Sailor Mars, but she decided that it was too early in the war to give away her identity to civilians.

"Whatever Chad. You'll never get the chance to be with me ever again." Chad seemed unaffected by Raye's comments. He had just seen Raye in a completely different light and was not too sure whether it was ever worth persuing her again. The degradation of his friend was just completely out of character for Raye.  
"I don't think I'll ever want the chance to go out with you again after today! Just get lost!" Raye walked off in the direction of the arts building in a rage as Chad tried to comfort Mark.

"Dude, I don't know what was up with her just then, but I have all the sympathy for you."  
"That was just not like her..." Mark looked down at the ground. He knew this was probably going to happen, but the actual effect was harsher than he expected.  
"I know. I've never known her to be, like, plain nasty. She's been a bitch at times, but never like that."  
"Yeah... Look Chad, I just need to hand an assignment into the ICT block. I'll see you in the lecture." Mark began to slowly walk away as Chad followed.  
"Dude, are you sure you're going to be okay?" Chad seemed genuinely concerned for the polite Englishman.  
"Yeah. I never could be better..."

Mark quickly continued walking until he was out of sight of his flatmates. He then grabbed his DataPad and quickly opened the communicatior program, calling Lita.  
"Lita here. What've you got Mark?"  
"Very bad news. She's just dumped me because of the _present situation_ and she tried to ask Chad out. Luckily he turned her down." Lita shook her head in disbelief, taking no notice of Mark's hurt expression.  
"Finally the guy's got some honour to his name. Where's she headin'?"  
"Your way. She'll be at the arts block in about two minutes."  
"Got that. I'll follow her around. See ya, chump!" Lita closed the link as Mark shook his head in continued sadness.

"Geeze... Hasn't that woman got any repect for the feelings of others?"

* * *

_**End of Chapter 16**_


	17. Follow the Leader

_Author's Notes/Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the Knights. There._

**Chapter XVII: Follow The Leader.**

_Int. 14 Atherton Street, Knightsbridge, London - September 23rd 2002, 10:00 pm GMT._

"Hi. Is Ben there please?"  
"Speaking. Is that you Anna?" Another long day had passed for Anna, she was beginnning to get on top of her university work, but she had something of much more importance to share with a certain friend. That day she had taken a trip to her local travel agents and had on her desk a folded-up piece of paper.  
"Yeah. I've got something very important to ask you. Do you have a passport at all?"  
"Yeah. What's this all about Anna?" Ben sounded slightly confused at Anna's questioning.  
"I just booked plane seats for us to go to Tokyo at christmas."  
"You're joking! We're going to Tokyo?" Ben sounded completely stunned as the pitch of his voice rose.  
"This ain't no joke Ben. My Dad would only let me have enough money for four tickets, so since you were Mark's best friend I decided to ask you first." The short blonde grinned as Ben became lost for words.

"Anna, I owe you big time! When's the flight?" Anna picked unfolded one of the pieces of folded paper on our desk before scanning through the table printed on it.  
"We leave from Berlin on December 20th. We'll be staying at a humble little B & B in the Cherry Hill area of Tokyo, about a quarter of a mile from where Mark lives."  
"Did you just say Berlin? Why can't we catch it from Heathrow?" Ben seemed very confused by Anna's logic.  
"I need to visit my Aunt and Uncle in Berlin first since we'll be in Tokyo this Christmas. They only visit us at Christmas time, so I guess I'd better see them for a day or so before we go."  
"Okay then... I guess a couple days in Germany wouldn't be bad. Who else are you gonna ask along?" Anna paused for a few moments as she unfolded another piece of paper.

"Well, I wanted all eight of us to come along, but since my dad only gave me enough for four people it's been pretty hard choosing. My dad's paid for the stuff so I'm coming along, you're coming along because you're Mark's best friend, Lucy can speak a bit of Japanese so she'll be useful and Jay's the best cook out of us lot. I'm gonna ask Lucy and Jay before I go to bed."  
"So, when do we leave for Berlin?"  
"My Uni splits on the sixteenth of December, so I'm thinking about catching the morning flight on the seventeenth from Heathrow. Is that fine by you?" Ben, lying on his bed, nodded in agreement down the phone.  
"Yeah. I'll bunk off on the final day to get my stuff sorted. If I can get the midday train from Southampton to Kings Cross, would it be okay if I stay over at yours? I don't have any relatives in London."  
"Sure. My parents have already agreed. Jay has to stay overnight anyway 'cause he lives in Plymouth."

"Thanks Anna. What about this new war in Tokyo though? The Dark Kingdom's been back for over a month now and Mark's told me he's on the front line." Ben sounded quite anxious, unlike Anna.  
"That's another reason why we're going. Ganymede says that the Sailor Senshi are dropping like flies. Sailor Pluto is stuck guarding the gates of time, Sailor Mars has been kidnapped and brainwased onto the side of the Dark Kingdom, Sailor Venus has been hospitalised by Sailor Mars and the rest are being beaten all over the place."  
"Woah... Now that's bad."  
"I'm going to call Mark in the morning. He's on a half day today, so I'll call him as soon as I get up. I want to keep this whole Tokyo trip a surprise from him, so don't mention a thing, okay?"  
"Yeah, secret's safe with me. I'm starting to get bored with the lack of action anyway. We've got more chance of being attacked by Bin Laden on a flying broomstick." Anna chuckled at what Ben had just said before pulling herself back together.

"Whatever Ben. I'll give you the final details tomorrow. See ya."  
"Yeah. Goodnight Anna."

* * *

_Music Hall 3, South Tokyo University - September 24th 2002, 1:30 pm local time._

Raye had somehow managed to avoid Lita completely that morning, so the first chance for Mark to catch up with her was the music lecture. Mark sat next to Chad that morning, trying not to draw suspicion to himself from Raye. It was nearly the end of the lecture, so Mark booted up the DataPad in his pocket ready to call Lita.  
"I hope I've explained everything clearly. Also, to the foriegn students, if you wish to have your assignment brief given to you in a different language, I've managed to get the language department to translate this into several languages, so collect a sheet in your language as you leave. I'm expecting nothing less than an A for this, so your challenge has been laid down. That's all, so class dismissed." The quiet music lecturer arranged the sheets on her desk as the students in the hall packed their pencil cases and folders away.

"I'll be a bit late back to the flat Chad. I've fallen a bit behind my Computing work, so I'm staying here for a while. I'll probably be back about half three." The mop-head guitarist looked back at Mark understandingly as he slung his rucksack over his shoulder.  
"Okay man. Just don't let Raye get to you." Mark jogged down to the desk, picking up an English version of the assignment before searching through the other piles of papers, waiting for Raye to exit through the double-doors before following her.

The corridoor was awash with students making their way towards the canteen, parking lots and bus shelters. It was very crowded and it Mark found it very hard to move, but about ten metres ahead of him he could see the raven-haired senshi of fire. Keeping his distance, he took out his DataPad and started to type a message.  
"Okay Lita, time for action..." As Mark sent the message he looked up to find Raye turning to a corridoor on her left. Mark translated the sign hanging above, he began to get a slight idea of where she might be going.  
"Okay, either ICT, the library, Science or Mathematics... Gotta keep on her tracks..." As he continued to follow her down the enduring, crystal white corridoors the somewhat haunting tune of the Eternal Melody started to play from his mobile. Quickly putting his DataPad away, he grabbed his phone from his rucksack while continuing to persue Raye.

"Davison."  
"I got your message. I'm in the library at the moment. Where's she heading?" Mark instantly recognised the voice as Lita's. She sounded fairly rushed.  
"How the hell did you get my number?!" Mark had absolutely no idea how Lita had managed to call his mobile.  
"I took Raye's personal phone book when I left the temple last night. I though it would be handy to prank call you with." Mark seemed slightly angry, but though this would be an ideal opportunity to explain the present situation.  
"Stay where you are. She might be heading to the library."  
"Yeah, gotcha. Anything else?" Mark saw this as an ideal opportunity to try and confront Lita's personlity further.  
"Yes, there is. Do you always act this coldly towards all men?" Lita gave a small, egoistic laugh down the phone.  
"Short answer, no. I think most guys are cute, just like any other straight woman of my age. It's just you and that asshole Chad I've got a problem with, okay?" Mark shook his head as he noticed Raye disappear into a room on the left. The sign hanging from the ceiling read _Onna_.

"Er, Lita, you're gonna have to move from the library after all."  
"Why? What's up?"  
"She's just disappeared into the Ladies' room. It's the ones by the steps leading up to the library bridge." Mark could hear the scraping of a chair and the rummaging of paper as he looked up towards the stairs.  
"I'll be down in a moment. You wait there and see if she comes back out." Lita hung up as Mark put his phone back in his pocket and took out his DataPad, black tape covering the symbol of Mars on the back. Opening up the location scanner, Mark tried to lock onto Raye's signal.

"Okay, so this should be fairly simple." Thought Mark to himself as he input what he thought was the current energy signiature of Sailor Mars. "If she was brainwashed onto the side of the Dark Kingdom, her signiature should be the inverse of what it normally is..."  
As he clicked the _OK_ button, a map of the first floor of the arts building appeared on his screen, a red square marking his location. A clock flashed in the bottom-right corner as the computer carried out its scans.

"Come on... Hurry up..." Mark anxiously stared at the map as a green star appeared on the stairs leading from the library and moved in his direction.  
"Mark. What's the plan?" Mark looked up from his map to see the electric brunette, seemingly less aggrevating than usual. A small bleep sounded from Mark's DataPad as a red cross flashed on the blue map.  
"Raye's in there. I need you to go in there and make sure she doesn't escape through a window or something. I'll stay here just in case she come out through the door." Lita seemed unimpressed, but kept in mind the seriousness of the mission.  
"Whatever. Just get ready for battle. If we're following her, she's gonna turn nasty at some point." Lita disappeared into the Ladies' room as Mark casually made his way to his locker nearby, carefully studying the points on the map.

Inside, Lita carefully browsed around for any open windows and doors, trying to find any possible escape routes for Raye. However, all the windows were closed and the doors sealed. She grabbed her phone and called Mark, looking for any other way to spy on Raye.  
"Davison."  
"Mark, it's Lita. Where exactly is Raye?" There was a slight pause as outside Mars flipped his Datapad to find Lita's bearings.  
"Erm..." Mark searched carefully for the red cross on the map. "Toilets at the far end, third on the right." Lita quickly made her way there, locking herself in the cubicle to the left of Raye's. She stayed silent, her phone to her ear, as she heard a voice whisper to her right. It was Raye's.

"It's too dangerous. I've already got Jupiter and the Mars knight on my tail. I can hit hard when I sneak up on them, but I don't stand a chance in full battle."  
"Don't talk so foolishly. They can't harm you. You're still a friend to them. All you need to do is grab the portal beacon and teleport back to command central with it."  
"Yeah, but how am I supposed to get to the roof of this building without being spotted by anyone, let alone those two?" Lita had just found the information she needed. As quietly as she could, she spoke to Mark down the phone.

"Mark! It's on the roof of this building! Go! Go! Go!"  
"Roger that. I'm on my way." Mark terminated the call as Lita continued to listen in on Raye's conversation.  
"Did you just hear something Malachite?" Lita started to panic as she got ready to unlock the door.  
"Yeah. This transmission data's picked up a second voice. I'm terminating this call." Lita slowly unbolted the door as shuffling could be heard from Raye's direction. One hand on her transformation pen, Lita looked up to see Raye's face looking down on her.

"I knew it! You're listening in on my conversations! **_MARS STAR POWER, MAKE-UP!!!_**" Raye began her transformation as immense anger built up inside Lita.  
"Two can play that game! **_JUPITER STAR POWER, MAKE-UP!!!_**" Lita began her transformation as Sailor Mars finished hers. Sailor Mars wasted no time running as fast as she could out of the Ladies' room and up the stairs in hot persuit of Mark. Sailor Jupiter followed suit, hoping her more athletic build could help her catch up with the renegade scout.

On the seventh floor of the building Mark was searching his map for the stairs leading up to the roof, all while running at an almost olympic pace. A legend in the corner showed that Mars and jupiter were in persuit, with Mars on the third floor and Jupiter on the second.  
"Okay, where are you?" Mark managed to pinpoint the stairs as he tugged out his red pendant from under his shirt. Barging open the door leading up, Mark screamed out his transformation key.  
"**_MARS KNIGHT SOLESTIAL TRANSFORMATION!!!_**" Mark piced up speed as he became engulfed in the red ball of light. As he ran up the steps at an increadible pace his black and red Mars Knight battle attire materialised over his now naked body. As he slammed open the final door leading onto the roof, the Mars Knight tried to open a channel with Central.

"Central. Are you there? It's the Mars Knight." After a few moments a picture of a white cat appeared in the top right corner of the screen.  
"Artemis here. How may I help?"  
"Artemis, could you send me the energy signiatures of the portal beacons that have already been recovered? I'm trying to locate one on the roof of Tokyo U." Mark gazed anxiously at the locations of Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter as he waited for Artemis' reply. They were on the same floor, so he hoped that Sailor Jupiter could delay Sailor Mars.  
"One moment please. We've only recovered one, so we don't know if they all share the same signiature." A few anxious moments followed as Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter reached the sixth floor. He called up the map of that floor to see the red cross of Sailor Mars stand still before seemingly being blasted into a wall by the approaching green star of Sailor Jupiter.

"Go on Jupiter... Hold her off a bit longer..."  
"Okay, sending the data to you..." An envelope appeared in the bottom-left corner of the Mars Knight's screen. Double-tapping the envelope and dragging it off-screen, the message opened in his sunglasses.  
"Thanks Artemis. That's all."  
"Okay. Just don't forget to bring it back here when you've got it. Sailor Jupiter will lead you back to Central." As Artemis closed the channel, the Mars Knight wasted no time in entering the details into the scanner. However, he noticed that Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter were now on the seventh floor. He had to find it quickly.

As the cursor whirred about on the map, searching for the beacon, he could hear the voices of Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter coming from the stairway. He held his hands ready to fire his Mars Fire attack, attaching the DataPad to his hip. The atmosphere was filled with anxiety as he waited for the two senshi to emerge from the stairwell.  
"Come on... Hurry up and find that bugger..."

It was too late by that time. Sailor Mars had emerged from the stairwell and seemed enfuriated.  
"I've found you now! You'll never get that portal beacon! **_MARS FIRE -_**" The dark senshi of fire was cut short as she was rugby-tackled to the ground by Sailor Jupiter.  
"Don't think you're getting away with this Sailor Mars! You're one of them now, a worthless piece of Negatrash! We're here to put an end to this!" Sailor Jupiter seemed as tough as ever with her speeches. The Mars Knight pointed his clasped hands at the senshi of fire, ready to fire at any moment should she try to escape. However, he was promptly interupted by his DataPad.

As he grabbed the DataPad to find the location of the portal beacon, Sailor Jupiter was distracted by the siren of the DataPad, giving Sailor Mars the opportunity to free her hands.  
"**_MARS FIRE IGNITE!!!_**" Sailor Mars promptly sent a fireball directly at Sailor Jupiter, sending her flying into the air condioning outlet.  
"Sailor Jupiter!" Sailor Mars made her way back to her feet and brushed herself off before laughing at the plight of Sailor Jupiter.  
"Heh. What a weak sap you are. You're supposed to be one of the toughest!" Mars Knight instantly saw what had happened and knew that now was the time to attack.  
"Hold it right there Sailor Mars! If you think you can just attack your friends like that in the name of the Dark Kingdom, you can get the hell out of here right now. If you want to stay and fight, I can assure you that in the name of Mars, I will punish you!"

"Fine. If you want it that way, so be it! **_MARS FIRE IGNITE!!!_**" The Mars Knight dived behind some pipes, avoiding the fireball, before raising his hands to the air.  
"Time to play defensive. **_MARS FIREWALL!!!_**" As he put his hands to the ground, an impenetrable wall of fire rose between himself and Sailor Mars. He used the extra time to check how badly hurt Sailor Jupiter was. The front of her Fuku was completely charred by the fireball and her arms slightly red from the heat. However, she was still concious.  
"Mars..."  
"Are you okay Jupiter?"  
"Yeah. Could you help me back up?" As the Mars Knight knelt down to help Sailor Jupiter, a fireball cruised past the top of his head, narrowly missing him. He quickly dragged the senshi of the forest back to her feet before turning back towards the wall of fire he created.

"Right, that's it!**_ MARS FIREWALL DEACTIVATE!!!_**" The firewall faded away into a line of ash on the ground, giving him a clear view of Sailor Mars. Enough was enough. Love or no love, he had to do it. "**_MARS FIRE IGNITE!!!_**" A stream of fire emerged from his fingers and hit Sailor Mars hard, sending her slamming into the stairwell. She collapsed as she fell to the ground, but was trying her best to get back up. The Mars Knight grabbed his DataPad once more and dived towards the pipework in the middle of the roof, reaching inside to grab the crystal, pyramid-shaped portal beacon.

Meanwhile, Sailor Jupiter was unable to control her anger. She had limped her way over to the struggling Sailor Mars and dragged her up by her red collar. As Sailor Jupiter got the renegade senshi on her feet, she wasted no time in headbutting her.  
"That was for Sailor Venus!" Once again, Sailor Jupiter headbutted Sailor Mars, whose nose was beginning to bleed.  
"That was for the outers!" Once more, for the final time, Sailor Jupiter headbutted Sailor Mars.  
"And that was for me, you bitch!" The Mars Knight had realised what was going on and dragged Sailor Jupiter away from Sailor Mars.

"What the hell are you doing?!" The anger was all too apparant in the way Sailor Jupiter acted. Her movements were very quick and she was breathing deeply.  
"Something called revenge! Revenge for everyone she's hurt in the past twelve hours!" The Mars Knight went to protect Sailor Mars, only to discover she was no longer there.  
"You can't hurt her anymore now. Looks like she teleported back to Negaverse command." Sighing deeply, the Mars Knight put his DataPad away while carrying the protal beacon under his left arm. "Where's Central? Artemis said we needed to bring this thing back to Central." Sailor Jupiter walked back towards the stairwell, transforming back into Lita.  
"The Crown arcade in Juuban. It's north of Cherry Hill, about three miles from here, so I think we should get the bus there. As far as I can remember, the 3A and the 8 go past there." The Mars Knight removed his sunglasses to transform back into Mark, following Lita. "By the way, you're not so bad after all. You're a pretty good fighter." Mark smiled as he closed the stairwell door behind him.  
"Thanks. Does this mean we're gonna stop arguing from now on?" Lita turned back at Mark and devilishly smirked at him.  
"Hell no! Now just shut your mouth and follow me." Mark couldn't argue with that. He just shrugged his shoulders and continued to follow Lita.

* * *

_Int. Moon Kingdom Central, Tokyo Branch - 24th October 2002, 2:20 pm._

News of the victory against Sailor Mars had filtered through to Central, but that was not as important at that moment. In the conference room the two cats, Serena and Darien sat around the table awaiting Sailor Pluto to deliver her report into the destinies of Mark and Raye. At the far end of the table stood the guardian of the gates of time herself, tidying a golden dossier on the table.

"Right, I guess I'll begin. This report I have here contains the results of an investigation into the destinies of Raye Hino, also known as Sailor Mars, and Mark Davison, also known as the Mars Knight. For the past sixteen hours I have been looking through the gates of time at the past, the present and the future and a number of deciding events to find out what probablity there is of Mark and Raye being together for both this lifetime and the era of the Crystal Earth. I'd just like to warn you now that who they are destined to be with in this lifetime can bear absolutely no relation to who they will be with in the next lifetime, and the fact that some anomalous situations can change the way destiny thinks and can make it change its mind.

"I'd like to begin with Raye. For this I have mainly relied on the two months leading up to the Silver Millenium tragedy and the time between when she discovered she was Sailor Mars and now. The picture is fairly clear, but there are a few strange results I can't quite explain.

Mark Davison does have the greatest possibility of being destined to be with Raye in this lifetime with a forty-one percent chance. The chance of Raye having no true love and remaining unmarried for the rest of her life here is thirty-nine percent. The probability of Raye ending up with Chad Kumada is fourteen percent, although it was nearly eighty percent before September 9th 2001." Serena shuddered at the fact that Chad even stood a chance, albeit a small chance, of getting back with Raye.

"Here are the three strange results. Raye has a four percent chance of being married to Darien Chiba in this lifetime -"  
"WHAT?!" spluttered Serena in total rage. The fact that Darien could be married to Raye was worse than knowing that she could be married to Chad. Darien looked slightly worried, looking back at Sailor Pluto with a _say it isn't so_ expression.  
"Serena, please. This only goes on the basis that you die prematurely, one of the anomalous situations I was talking about. Destiny does not intend for you to die so young, so I believe you have nothing to worry about. You two at the moment have a 95 percent chance of being together." Serena calmed down slightly at Sailor Pluto's explanation, but still seemed slightly annoyed.  
"I seriously hope you're right."

"Where was I?... Ah. There's something I can't quite explain whatsoever. According to this, Raye has a one percent chance of being Mina's lover..." Serena couldn't help but laugh at what Sailor Pluto had just said. Raye and Mina lovers? This was hillarious! "... and a one percent chance of being Serena's lover." The smirk instantly vanished from Serena's face while Darien and the cats couldn't help but laugh.  
"This isn't funny!!!" Serena was the only one not laughing. Even Sailor Pluto found the report funny.

"I guess I'll move onto her future then." The room instantly fell silent as Sailor Pluto moved onto the second page. "Up until now, the princess of Mars has had no reported lover in the Crystal Tokyo era. However, I have noticed that in some destinies the prince of Phobos is living with the princess of Mars, in some instances they are even married. However, I have seen very few possibilities which contain this. Overall, the chance of the Princess of Mars and the Prince of Phobos is estimated to be around ten percent. It's a slim chance, but it's the only chance considering she has a ninety percent chance of being alone." Luna seemed slightly relieved by the findings, but had to put one question forward.  
"So basically, if anyone's going to bring back Sailor Mars to our side, it's going to be the Mars Knight?"  
"Indeed. Her friends, the other inner senshi, might be able to do it on their own, but if we look back to Queen Beryl's first campaign, or the day of destiny to be more specific, it was Sailor Moon that managed to get back Prince Endymon from Beryl with the locket that he gave her. If a similar type of brainwashing was used on Sailor Mars, the Mars Knight would definately be our best bet." 

A small buzzer could be heard from the control panel by the door along with a flashing green light. Darien stood up and walked over to answer the call.  
"Darien here."  
"Darien. It's Lita. We've got the portal beacon."  
"Okay. I'll get to the lab in a moment." Darien turned back to Sailor Pluto, who was placing her papers beck into the dossier. "I'm afraid I have to go. Lita's come back with the University portal beacon."  
"Oh, that's okay. The briefing's finished anyway. You don't realy need to know the statistics for Mark anyway. You already know the probability for Mark being with Raye, so there's nothing more to say on the matter."  
"Thanks." Darien swiftly left through the doors and dashed down the pearl-white corridoor to the lab to meet Lita.

* * *

**_End of Chapter 17_**


	18. Somewhere I Belong

_Disclaimer: I created the Knights, Naoko Takeuchi created the Sailor Scouts._

**Chapter XVIII: Somewhere I Belong**

Mark was completely astounded by the sheer size of the Tokyo command centre. He had felt more that slightly confused and bewildered at first when Lita had lead him to a fairly old _Sailor V_ arcade machine and for a while he honestly thought that she was playing a cruel joke. However, all was revealed when the machine parted, revealing a dimly lit passageway. Lita had swiftly taken hold of the hand of a very confused Mark and quickly dragged him down the passageway. After a fair walk down several flights of stairs, Mark seemed very taken back by the complete wonder of this place. Not even London's central command centre seemed so elaborate. From what he had seen so far, this was more like the secret base of a James Bond villain.

At the bottom of the dim, concrete-walled stairway was a thick iron door, a silver control panel at the side. Lita quickly tapped in a very long code on the number pad, typing far too quickly for Mark to see what buttons were being pressed. Saying that, Mark also knew his PIN number for central off by heart and was able to type it in at an increadible rate. It was something that came as part of the job. The huge blast door opened after the control panel scanned her eyes to reveal an almost blindingly white corridoor which Mark instantly shielded his eyes from. He cautiously followed Lita inside, the change of contrast a fairly big shock to his eyes.

A rather refreshing cool breeze caressed Mark's face as Lita picked up what looked like a white telephone handset and pressed one of the many buttons. However, Mark seemed more interested in finding out exactly where he was. The large, spotless white corridoors made the fact that they were ten floors below an amusement arcade seem unbelievable. It just seemed like something out of a strange dream, the dream where you are alone or with someone else in a vast field of white. He noticed a fairly large map encased in a gold-framed display case on the wall and naturally checked it out.

"Okay... where am I?" Mark closely examined the map for some sort of _you are here_ symbol, but with such a large map to examine, he didn't know where to start. Placing the portal beacon from under his left arm onto the floor, he ran his finger along the first random corridoor he could find.  
"Erm, what exactly are you doing?" Lita had once again crept up on Mark and caused him to jump. Turning very abruptly to face the electric brunette, Mark had a less than pleased look on his face.  
"Trying to find exactly where I am." Lita gazed at the map behind the English senshi of fire and shrugged her shoulders.  
"They should have that thing properly marked out... You won't believe the number of tourists that get lost in here." Mark dared not to question Lita's sarcasm, instead just picking up the portal beacon and placing it under his left arm once more.

"So, where do we take this thing now we're here?"   
"Darien said he's going to meet us in the lab. I'll take you there." Lita began to casually walk down the corridoor on the left. Mark, who feared getting lost in such an apparantly huge place, decided to keep up and stay at Lita's side.  
"Is that Darien as in Darien Chiba who I met last night after Raye was kidnapped?"  
"The master of corny speeches himself, just don't tell him I said that though." Mark shook his head and laughed at Lita's comments.  
"So I take it he's not much of an orator, then?" Mark seriously hoped his Japanese had been perfect just then, hoping he didn't say something completely different. Lita just looked back at him and smiled.  
"Well, he's a good speaker, but it's just the things he says as Tuxedo Mask. It just makes you want to burst out into a fit of laughter, and had he not saved us so many times, I think we may just have done that a few times." Mark smiled along with Lita, counting himself lucky that he hadn't heard any of Tuxedo Mask's speeches.

"Is there any more news on Mina?" The smile seemed to vanish from Lita's face at the mention of one of her best friends. She stared vacantly into the distance, still horified by Sailor Mars' actions the night before.  
"She's still in a pretty serious condition according to Luna. She's beginning to stablise, but she took a pretty bad knock to the head. She's gonna be out of action until the end of November at the earliest."   
"Ah." sighed Mark uneasily. In the back of his mind he knew he might possibly have saved Mina if he had hadn't have closed his eyes for that moment, but he already knew that something that has already happened cannot be changed no matter how hard you try. Mark had learnt that lesson the hard way over a thousand years ago on the fateful night of the Silver Millenium, a memory that had followed him to his new life.

"We're here." Lita turned right into a very large room, slightly greyer than the gleaming white corridoors they had just traveled down. The masses of equipment and computers neatly spread around this huge area tended to suggest that this was some sort of laboratory. Mark cautiously followed behind, taking time to take a look at the array of equipment set out on the various workbenches.  
"So where do we put this thing?" Mark was beginning to feel the strain of the portal beacon, which seemed to have become a fair bit heavier.  
"In the vaccuum chamber. We just need to wait for Darien so that he can put this thing away for us."  
"Why wait? I'm here now." Sure enough, Darien emerged from behind one of the large mainframes, giving Lita somewhat of a nasty surprise.

"Darien! Will you stop doing that!" Mark began to laugh along with Darien while Lita looked very unimpressed.  
"Hey, you've gotta have humour in times like these." Darien quickly noticed the large portal beacon under Mark's arm. "I see you've got the beacon. Could you pass it over here a second? I need to put it in the vaccuum chamber." Without hesitation Mark handed the portal beacon over to Darien while Lita checked the readings on a nearby computer.  
"So is that all? Is there any news on what stage two of the Dark Kingdom attack plan is?" Mark seemed slightly anxious at what may be to come. In the back of his mind he feared that the senshi would be only days away from facing an all-out onslaught.

"Energy." replied Darien, placing the portal beacon on a convayor belt leading into a large glass chamber. From where he was standing, Mark could vaguely see another pyramid-shaped portal beacon in the centre of the chamber. "It's outlined in the documents you retrieved last night. They'll probably take their time over this one. They want to collect the most energy with the least amount of effort. The best way they can achive that, I think, is at an event where there will be plenty of people."  
"Such as a football match?"  
"Not particulary. Soccer isn't the most popular sport here. I'd say something like a J-League baseball game or a pop concert." Realising he'd had only one hour's rest in the past thirty, Mark gave a fairly satified yawn and rubbed his eyes.  
"Yeah, probably. Too tired to think of any events coming up though." Realising exactly how tired Mark was and feeling somewhat exhausted himself, Darien quickly cut to the chase.

"Well, you can get some rest soon. Myself, Serena and Luna just need to tell you one thing first. Lita, you can go see Mina if you want. She's in the recovery room." Without saying a word, Lita ran as rast as she could out of the lab and out of sight.

* * *

_Int. Negaverse Command Centre - September 24th 2002, 2:40 pm_

"Great. I'm probably deep in the shit now..." Raye stormed down the halls of the Negaverse Command Centre, enfuriated by her defeat at the hands of her ex-boyfriend and Sailor Jupiter. With a support strip across the bridge of her nose and a tight dressing around her lower left arm, she limped her way to the War Room to address Beryl and Wiseman. The defeat she had just suffered was crushing, overshadowing what she had achived earlier. The dank, dark hallway seemed to last forever as her fear of what may happen began to take her over.

"Raye! Pull yourself together, woman!" Raye tried her best to gain control of herself, she knew that she had done everything that was asked up to the point of the University battle and she knew that the high command couldn't be too disappointed with her. With the entrance to the War Room in sight, Raye took one last deep breath before pushing open the large mahogany doors. Inside the spacious hall, seemingly darker and danker than the surrounding corridoors. Sitting around the large table in the centre of the room, Malachite, Queen Beryl, Wiseman and Professor Tomoe looked up from the masses of papers and maps and focussed on Raye.  
"Miss Hino. Please come to the table." Raye reluctantly accepted Wiseman's invitation, slowly advancing towards the end of the large table before standing to attention. Queen Beryl neatened a few files in front of her before addressing the brainwashed senshi.

"Miss Hino, I have to say I am quite disappointed with you. Not only did you fail to recover the beacon at the University, but you also took a seroius beating at the hands of Sailor Jupiter and your precious Mars Knight. That consitutes as a failure, Miss Hino. Do you know what we do with failures, Miss Hino?" The fear was all too apparant in Raye's face. Even though Queen Beryl was no longer her enemy, she still had that great fear factor about her. Trying to keep an emotionless face, Raye searched for a reply.  
"No, your Majesty. I do not know what you do with failures."  
"I will tell you now. We do not tolerate failures at all. We destroy all failures at the earliest opportunities." A gut feeling took over Raye at that moment. This was possibly going to be the last few moments of her life. She had failed in the final part of her mission and now execution was being discussed she felt absolutely terrible. However, Wiseman quickly cut in with his own opinions.

"You have failed to recover the portal beacon at Tokyo University, but we must not overlook the fact that you have brought the Dark Kingdom a fair amount of success in the past fifteen hours. You have successfully managed to put Sailor Venus out of action and also nearly managed to kill Sailor Neptune. You have been more effctive than any of our Youmas, and for that I personally am willing to give you a second chance." Surprised by what the mysterious cloked figure of Wiseman had just explained, Queen Beryl looked at him in disgust. She had always distrusted all sailor senshi, and to see her fellow leader take pity on Raye was very enfuriating. However, he had a point, and it would probably be foolish to kill her now when she could be exploited further. With this in mind, she kept quiet.

"Thank you, your highness."  
"Miss Hino, you will be involved in the second stage of the invasion of Tokyo. For this stage, we need to gather energy for the third and final stage of attack. Should this go to plan, we anticipate the final attack to go ahead at the end of December. We understand you will be hosting a pop concert within the next fortnight." Raye seemed surprised that Wiseman had even heard of her annual concert. It had also dawned on her that she hadn't practiced her singing that day. However, that was not the main thing on her mind at the moment.  
"Yes your higness. Friday 8th November, two weeks tomorrow."  
"Good. That will be our first main opportunity to amass energy from the public. We will discuss tactics and technology tomorrow at fourteen hundred hours. Remeber that failure this time will not be treated so lightly. You are dismissed."

Raye swiftly turned around and left the large hall, jolting in pain as she ran her hand across her face. She seriously needed to relax, she had a whole two weeks before she would be in action. As she closed the huge doors behind her she unfolded a small piece of paper from her pocket to find her quarters.  
"Geeze... I hope this place has a bath. My legs are killing me."

* * *

_Int. Conference Room 1, Moon Kingdom Central, Tokyo Branch - October 24th 2003, 2:50 pm._

Darien had lead Mark deeper into the lair of Central, taking almost ten minutes to reach the conference room. Still feeling extremely tired, Mark felt almost overjoyed when they finally reached the large and, unsurprisingly, gleaming white room. Sat at the large pine table in the corner were Serena, Luna and Artemis. Darien swiftly pulled out a chair opposite Serena for Mark before sitting himself down next to his long term girlfriend. Sitting there in front of his future King and Queen made Mark somewhat nervous, but he knew that this had to be something to do with Raye. Shuffling about in his chair slightly to get comfortable, Mark waited in silence for someone to speak.

"Mark, a few moments ago Sailor Pluto delivered to us a fairly important report. We understand you came here to try and find your destiny. Is that true?" Mark began to shift around a little more, feeling even more uncomfortable by Luna's questioning.  
"Yes Luna. I was not a part of Crystal London in the thirtieth century. I came here in the hope of finding answers as to where I would be in the future."  
"Ah. As it turns out, we've discovered that you have a chance of living in Crystal Tokyo in the thirtieth century. We don't know the chance of you just being in Crystal Tokyo, but the chance of you finding true love there is ten percent." At this point it had seemed that a huge weight had just been taken off his shoulders. Finally he had a clue as to where he would end up in the future, but was she talking about Raye when she mentioned _true love_?

"When you say _true love_, do you mean Raye?"  
"Yes, although I won't go into any further details. Destiny can be affected by the slightest of things."  
"I understand." Artemis quickly cut in at that point, ready to explain what exactly that meant.  
"What that means is that you're our best shot at getting Raye back." Confusion and nervousness once again invaded Mark's mind. He was the best bet for bringing Raye back?  
"Erm, I don't quite get you there. How can I be the best chance of getting Raye back if I've known her for little over a month?" It was now Serena's opportunity to explain the plan to Mark.

"I don't know if you've already heard the story of the Day of Destiny or not, but I'll tell you it now. Six years ago we faced Queen Beryl and Metallia in the Arctic. For the few months previous, Darien had been captured and brainwashed onto the side of the Dark Kingdom. However, in the final battle I managed to bring him back to normal after reminding him of our love for each other. Beryl had lost her key weapon against me, and in the end the Scouts sealed the victory. We believe that this is a similar situation, so that's why we need you. If you are destined to be with Raye, you are the one to free her." This all seemed a little much for Mark. He would be the one to save the woman he loved most from the clutches of the Dark Kingdom? Mark just sat silently trying to take this all in.

"Maybe you need time to think about it. You look like you need some rest." Darien stood up from his seat and strided over towards where Mark was sitting.  
"Yeah..." yawned Mark. "I guess I need a few hours' kip."  
"I'll drive you to your apartment then."

* * *

It was a clear, crisp evening, and inside the main auditorium of T*A Private girls school the masses of people that had attended Raye's annual concert had erupted into cheers at the climax of the penultimate song. Mark, dressed in his black tuxedo, searched through the pad of music for the final piece, Eternal Melody. On the stage Raye, wearing a red dress that could only be described as completely stunning, thanked the crowd for their support.

"Thank you! Thank you! I'd like to dedicate this final number tonight to someone very special to me. This particular person is here in the building tonight, in fact he's sitting at the piano right now. Mark, if you'd please stand up." As the spotlight shone down on him, he cautiously stood up and waved to the audience, noticing that the five other senshi were sat down on the front row - Mina, Hotaru, Amara, Serena and Darien. However, not everything seemed right. A few rows back he noticed a man with long silver hair. He had a gut feeling that he seen him somewhere before, but he just shook it off as he sat back down at the synths. As he looked towards the strings section, he noticed Michelle smiling at him. He simply smiled back as Raye introduced the song.

"This is a ballad I composed a few months back when I was relaxing on a beach in Osaka. This is the Eternal Melody." The entire auditorium started clapping as Mark started the intro. As the clapping stopped and the hall fell silent, Raye began to sing.

_Living life under the golden sun  
In my heart you are forever with me  
I need no words, only your love  
Your touch, your soul, everything that you may be_

_Oh, your bravery sweeps me off my feet,  
In my heart, I believe we were destined to meet,  
The light of our love, shining bright,_

As Mark managed to find two bars' rest, he quickly looked up to find that the guy with the long silver hair had disappeared. Quickly realising he had just missed the point where he came back in, he found where he was supposed to be and continued. 

_Oh, my love, those nights under the velvet sky and stars  
My love, we shall never be apart  
Not 'till the very end  
The Eternal Melody of us  
Our song we send._
    
    _Brought to me by destiny
    You and I, always together
    Whatever happens to us
    I'll be with you forever_
    
    _Oh, remembering the day when we first met,
    Oh, something I don't want to forget
    The days of sorrow, gone away_

_Oh, my love, those nights under the velvet sky and stars  
My love, we shall never be apart  
Not 'till the very end  
Our Eternal Melody_

Something was definately wrong. Mark looked up from the sheet of music again to see most of the audience yawning as if they were extremely tired. Some of the musicians also seemed extremely fatigued. Still, he couldn't do anything about it halfway through the final song of the night.

_Where there is no sound in the corners of space  
Everybody is alone  
When at least our feelings of love meet  
I can go on to tomorrow_

_Oh, my love, those nights under the velvet sky and stars  
My love, we shall never be apart  
Not 'till the very end  
For our Melody_

_Oh, my love, those nights under the velvet sky and stars  
My love, we shall never be apart  
Not 'till the very end  
Our love we send_

As the clarinet began the final phrase, Mark looked around to see that the entire audience was now unconcious, as was the entire orchestra. He was the only one still concious. As he looked up to the stage, he noticed Raye laughing manically on the stage, seven coloured seeds in her hand. Instantly realising what was going on, Mark ran out from the orchestra pit and dashed as fast as he could up to the stage stairs. However, as he reached the steps he saw the figure of the silver haired man standing in his path. It was clear this time who it was.  
"Malachite!" The figure whipped out a silver handgun and in an instant pulled the trigger. After the loud bang, all went black.

Black, except for the glow of the red segment display in his bedside clock.

* * *

_Int. Apartment 211, Hiwaka view apartments - October 29th 2002, 4:20 am._

That was the third time that Mark had suffered from that nightmare in as many nights. The first and second time he simply shrugged it off, telling himself that he'd been thinking about Raye too much. However, now that it had happened for the third time, he was sure that it was some sort of vision. There was no disputing that - the Mars senshi were famous for their predictions and visions. Reaching up to turn on the lamp above his bed, Mark locked his bedroom door and grabbed his DataPad, opening a channel with Central.

"Central. Luna speaking."  
"Luna, I'm certain about that concert thing. I've just had that nightmare again, and I'm pretty certain that it's a vision." Mark sounded fairly rushed, the nightmare affecting his breathing rate.  
"Yes, we've suspected that Raye's concert may be a prime target."  
"I guess you must think I'm kinda crazy for calling you up like this every night." Reaching over towards his work desk, Mark grabbed a framed photo of himself and Raye at the temple, staring into the happy portrait with great sadness.  
"On the contrary, we're taking your nightmares very seriously. Back when we were fighting Professor Tomoe for the first time, Raye had many nightmares which later turned out to be premenitions. All the Mars senshi have a sixth sense on these things." Mark had calmed down, but he couldn't help but think that a part of him was missing. He couldn't quite believe the fact that he might be Raye's true love, nor could she believe that she was evil. Still, she was no longer in control of her true self, and in the end was being held against her own true will.

"So, is there some sort of plan for what's gonna happen?" Mark placed the photo frame back on the desk, carefully placing it down next to his laptop. He flicked through his pile of CDs, looking for something that seemed very distant and haunting.  
"Nothing's confirmed at the moment, but we will keep the event under tight security in case she does attack. We're going to have to stay low key though."  
"I see. Thanks for everything." Mark flipped open his laptop, yawning with uncertainty. As the desktop appeared on the screen, Mark placed Raye's CD in the CD drive.  
"Goodnight Mark."

Crashing back on his bed, Mark stared wide-eyed out of the window, the moonlight and the stars gracefully outlining the silhouette of the Hiwaka Shrine. As the serene melody of _Oh Starry Night_ flowed from the laptop's speakers, Mark remained motionless, the recent events flowing through his head. Raye's capture, the University battle, finding his possible destiny and the nightmares of the past three nights. With the anxiety of the concert in his mind, he started to reassure himself. Still, all he could see in his mind was her smiling face, a look of pure innocense. The magical red aurora surrounding her. Finally lying down on his bed, his hands over his eyes, Mark reflected upon his inner self, searching deep inside for his courage.

"Raye... I will bring you back... I promise..."

* * *

**_End Of Chapter 18_**


	19. So Close, So Far

_Author's Notes/Disclaimer: My sincerest apologies for the long wait. I know you've all been greatly anticipating this update, but I've had a very busy month. I've had my first GCSE exams, a ton of homework and a slight case of writer's block. Here it is now though. Also, Naoko Takeuchi owns the Sailor Scouts and all other characters and I created the Knights._

**Chapter XIX: So Close, So Far.**

_Int. Concert Hall 2, South Tokyo University - November 1st 2003, 4:00 pm_

It was now only one week until Raye's concert, and in concert hall two of South Tokyo University the many musicians were tuning their instruments. However, three of those musicians had more important issues on their minds. Eagerly anticipating the arrival of the renegade senshi to the hall, Mark, Michelle and Lita warmed up at their instruments, eagerly glancing around for the renegade Mars senshi. Practicing the somewhat difficult solo from "A more beautiful morning will come", another of Raye's songs, Mark seemed distant, seemingly absorbed by the music before him even though it was more of a dance tune than a ballad. Almost everything of Raye's seemed to bring Mark to a standstill. Not even the other senshi could imagine how much he was missing the gentle, kind-hearted Raye.

Lita, however, had somewhat aggressive feelings stored in her. Nothing could hide the fact that Raye had brutally attacked one of her best friends, and for that all she wanted was pain and suffering to Raye for her atrocities. In her mind, she had decided that she would not relent until she was convinced that Raye had been brought back. She had been very good freinds with Raye for several, but for now that friendship didn't matter one bit. As she beat out a swing rhythm, she glared at the entrance to the hall, anticipating Raye's arrival.

For the most part, Michelle had exactly the same feelings as Lita. The previous week Raye had nearly sent her to her death from the top of Television Tower, although in some ways it was a blessing in disguise since Amara had pampered her for the rest of that week realising how close she had come to losing her love. However, by nature she was nowhere near as aggressive as Lita, being the senshi of the seas. Despite this, she wanted revenge, or at least her safe return to the side of the senshi.

"Okay, sorry I'm late guys." The musicians ceased their tuning as the star of the performance entered the room. Wearing a purple jacket over her yellow t-shirt and black trousers, Raye entered the room to a loud applause. However Mark, Lita, Michelle weren't clapping, and neither was Chad. He was still very sour over the dumping of Mark. Playing a few random riffs, he carefully glared at the firey-tempered singer.  
"I can probably guess why..." thought Lita to herself as she finished her rhythm, spinning her drumstick in her right hand.  
"Could you all find _A More Beautiful Morning Will Come_ please? You've all done well this past month, but I think we're struggling to get this one perfect." The shuffling of paper echoed as Raye glared scornfully at the three musical senshi. Lita couldn't help but laugh at the support strip across Raye's nose, knowing all to well that her attacks had caused it.

"Okay, one, two, three, four. Mark started the synth's melody which he had programmed in before rushing back to the piano before the first four bars were over. Joining in after the intro, Mark occasionally glanced up from his music, looking for anything suspicious.

_The gentle breeze of the summer days,  
The moonlit summer nights,  
For in my dreams, the seasons seem  
To bring to my heart the light,_

_Sometimes my mischief gets the better of me,  
Though that I can change,  
But whether with smiles or tears,  
I know I can beat my fears,  
'Cause someday, some way,  
I'll make this my day._

Trying to blot out Raye's angelic voice, Mark looked up once more for anything suspicious. Serious alarm bells began to ring as he looked towards the entrance to the hall. By the large red double-doors stood a fairly tall man, a man with shoulder-length silver hair. The man from his nightmares. Malachite. He was in disguise, but he hadn't taken much bother to change his face. However, he couldn't just stand up now. He had to sneak out when Raye wasn't looking. Trying to grab Lita's attention, Mark stared in her direction, keeping one eye on the music.

_I believe in all the small things,  
The important things in my dreams,  
A more beautiful morning will come,  
Yeah, it sure seems,_

_Believing in the light of love,  
The soul of every single thing,  
My courage will get me through the day,  
The wisdom my heart sings._

Still keeping a close eye on what appeared to be Malachite, he managed to grab Lita's attention.  
"What?" mouthed the electric brunette.  
"Malachite! Look at the door!" replied Mark, shifting his eyes towards the doorway. Lita instantly realise what Mark meant as a look of complete rage invaded her face.  
"I don't believe it!" Lita, like Mark also wanted to stand up and knock seven bells out of the silver-haired general, but she didn't want to attract any unwanted attention from the rest of the musicians, especially Raye.

_As I lie back on my cozy bed and close my eyes,  
The joyous memory of the day that I see,  
The love filling inside of me,_

_Girls like myself always feel this way about days like these,  
But yesterday for me, was such a different story,  
Yet now I know the stars will show,  
And shine bright for me._

Malachite was still standing there, although Mark and Lita were the only ones who noticed. Michelle was too busy concentrating on the music. 

_I believe in all the small things,  
The important things in my dreams,  
A more beautiful morning will come,  
Yeah, it sure seems,_

_Believing in the light of love,  
The soul of every single thing,  
My courage will get me through the day,  
The wisdom my heart sings._

Mark's focus on the music at that point had hit rock bottom. He hit a severely dischordant chord at the beginning of the bridge, causing the rest of the orchestra to stop. Raye instantly dashed over to him in complete and utter rage, appalled that he had played such an increadibly disgusting chord.  
"Where the hell were you? That was nothing like what was written on here! That was a horrid chord!" Waving the sheet music in protest, Raye had never ever been this angry over a chord.  
"I wasn't concentrating, and you can probably guess why. Mark shifted his eyes towards the doors, signalling to Raye what he meant. As she turned her head to catch a glimpse of Malachite, the silver-haired general made himself scarce. However, she had seen enough of him to recognise him, and seemed just as wary as Mark.

"A word outside please, Mark." Mark stood up, but instead of following Raye he dashed out of the room in hot persuit of Malachite. As Raye also ran for it, Lita and Michelle abandoned their instruments and, unsurprisingly, followed the other three.  
"Get back here now!" Mark shouted to the fleeing Malachite, reluctant to transform into the Mars Knight for the fear of exposing his true identity. Still the general remained silent, conserving his strength for the chase. Taking a look behind him, he realised that Raye was closing in on him. Still keeping up pace, Mark turned the corner, but realised that Malachite had disappeared. Stopping dead, he looked down the corridoors to his left and right, but there was nothing. Not a single trace could be seen.

"EXCUSE ME!!! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" Not moving a single muscle, Mark seemed very unsurprised by Raye's enfuriated fashion.  
"You know all too bloody well what's goin' on!" Mark was beginning to lose his temper - something of an extreme rarity. Malachite was one of the only two people he had ever held a grudge against, the other being Metallia. He was the one responsible for capturing Raye, and for that Mark absolutely dispised him.  
"Malachite? I wasn't expecting him. I honestly don't know why he came." Still enraged at the appearance of Malachite, Mark slowly but menacingly turned around to face Raye.  
"Say that to my face!" Looking down at the brainwashed senshi of fire, he honestly believed that he could see fear in her eyes. Her look of helplessness struck deep into his heart. This was very unusual. At that moment he realised that there just might be some hope in bringing her back; Facing her one on one seemed to take away her fighting spirit.

"I do not know why he came! That's the truth! I swear upon my life!" This was definately wrong. An enemy of his was now swearing upon her own life.  
"Something's wrong with you. How come you've backed off like that?" Raye was now beginning to panic. This was not a situation she wanted to face. Her new found hatred was beginnig to fade and she began to fear how her leaders would react should they see her showing any sympathy for Mark.  
"What are you talking about? I'm not backing off!" replied Raye rather sheepishly. Mark knew he was beginning to get through to her. This was probably a chance to bring her back. All he needed to do was approach her personality cautiously.

"Raye. Just listen to me. Malachite is using you. He is using your abilities and personality to do the dirtywork for the Dark Kingdom's plans." Raye was starting to shake slightly. To her this was preposterous. She was being used by Malachite? She did not believe that. However, deep inside her heart there was something nagging away, something telling her to listen to Mark.  
"I don't believe you! Malachite would never use me! He would never dream of hurting me!" With every statement, Mark was delving deeper and deeper into Raye's true self. It was now or never.  
"Really? What about the night of the twenty-third of October? About ten forty?" Clearly upset, Raye began to back away from Mark until she pressed against the wall behind her. Mark just followed her step for step, keeping an equal distance between himself and her.

"Mark! I can't remember! I don't know what you're talking about!" Becoming even closer to her, Mark placed his hand on the wall behind her as he smiled.  
"I believe you do Raye. Just think back. Think of the Temple. Think of me waking you up. Think of -"  
"There she is!!!" Mark and Raye looked down the corridoor to see Lita and Michelle speeding towards them. Raye instantly ran in the opposite direction while Mark tried to block the two women from getting past him.  
"Mark! What the hell are you doing?! She's getting away!" Mark seemed like he was going to seriously lash out at Lita. His best chance of getting his true love back onto the side of the Moon Kingdom had just flown away, and now he was seriously angered  
"Thanks a bloody lot! You just ruined a great chance of getting her back on our side!" Michelle backed off as Lita beared the full brunt of Mark's rage. The normaly calm Englishman was completely red in the face with complete and utter rage.

"What exactly do you mean?" Lita seemed very surprised. Mark had been angry at her before, but this time he had truely blown his top.  
"I MEAN YOU HAVE JUST COMPLETELY PISSED ME OFF FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR!!! DO YOU EVEN GIVE A SHIT ABOUT BRINGING RAYE BACK?! IT'S OBVIOUS YOU DON'T, OTHERWISE YOU WOULD HAVE LEFT US ALONE!!! YOU DO NOT REALISE HOW MUCH YOU HAVE JUST TOTALLY SCREWED THINGS UP!!!" Lita stepped back in complete and utter shock, taken aback by Mark's outrageous comments. For once she was lost for words as it dawned on her exactly how close Mark might have come to taking Raye back. As she noticed a tear start to form in Mark's right eye, Lita became over-ridden with guilt.  
"Mark... I'm sorry... I didn't realise..." She knew what she just said probably meant absolutely nothing to Mark, but it was an instant reaction. Michelle at that point had disappeared, probably making her way back to the concert hall.

"Oh no, of course you didn't realise. You just decided to take a quick jog through the corridoors of south Tokyo University, and who do you see? Mark Davison talking to Raye Hino. Your instant reaction? You run over towards them like the crazy bitch that you are and ruin a perfectly good chance for me to something good for once. Thank you Lita. I owe you one." Mark's sarcasm made Lita's guilt multiply tenfold. She had hardly ever felt this bad before now, probably never.  
"Mark! I'm sorry! I feel really guilty over this!" Resting his head against the wall, Mark contemplated exactly how close he was to recovering Raye. Lita's apologies didn't matter one bit to him at the present moment.

"Just save it. I'm gonna get my stuff back from the hall and go home. You go and lead the Orchestra if you want, somehow I don't think Raye's gonna be back today." Mark stormed off back towards the concert hall, still enraged by Lita's overzealous actions.  
"Mark! Wait!" Lita began to run after him, but she soon froze as Mark turned back around to address her.  
"Lita, don't. You've already pissed about enough with me today. Don't send me completely off the rails." Mark continued to make his way back to the concert hall. Lita followed behind, but kept her distance. At that moment she knew that she had to stay well clear of Mark. She could only hope that she would possibly be able to patch things up with him, despite not liking him too much herself.

* * *

_Int. __Apartment 211, Hiwaka view apartments - November 2nd 2003, 6:00 pm._

Another day, another twenty-four hours of worries over Raye's safety. Mark still felt extremely annoyed over how close he came to getting Raye back, and was currently reconfiguring his Dark Kingdom hacking program to try and take his mind off her, although it was probably futile since it had taken him nearly seven months to find a way to get into the Dark Kingdom's mainframe in the first place. Chad seemed slightly anxious about Mark's anger, but got no straight answer when he asked what was wrong. Lita had even tried to call Mark a couple of time, but he simply diverted her calls to his answerphone. He had seen Raye during the music lecture that day, but she didn't look in his direction even once. Added to the rumours about why he ran out of the concert hall the day before, all Mark wanted was to be alone.

Mark jumped before gazing down at his mobile phone on his desk in anger as the Eternal Melody played. He was about to press the cancel button to send it to his answerphone when he realised that it wasn't Lita calling. Slowly he picked up the phone and answered the call.  
"Davison."  
"Mark, it's Darien." This seemed pretty strange. He knew that Darien had probably found his number from the phone book Lita took, but why was he calling?  
"Hi Darien. What's up?" Mark's tone of voice seemed fairly depressed. Darien could instantly tell that he was still feeling very upset over Raye.  
"Nothing much. Just asking if you like to come round for a meal at mine and Serena's place." This was quite strange to Mark. Darien was inviting him to a meal? This he hadn't expected.  
"Are you sure?"  
"Certain. It'll be a good way for us to properly introduce ourselves. Will you be joining us?" Now this definately was an offer too good to refuse. A meal with his future King and Queen? He was already there.  
"If it's not too much of a bother, yes please. When is it?"  
"Tonight. Sorry it's such short notice." Things were starting to get even better for Mark, even though it now made him slightly nervous. Raye was now completely gone from his mind for the moment.

"No, I don't mind. It'll be a bit of a welcome change. Do you live far from Cherry Hill?"  
"Well, we live in Juuban, so it's not too far. Don't worry about it though, I'll pick you up at about half eight. You do live at those flats near the temple, don't you?" Realising how little time Mark had to get ready, he pushed his chair over to his wardrobe using his feet before opening it and browsing at what suits he could wear.  
"Yeah, Hiwaka view apartments, down the road from the temple." sighed Mark, the thought of Raye returning with a vengance.  
"Okay. See you at half eight. I'll be in a red Honda."  
"Okay, thanks a lot. I owe you." As Darien hung up, Mark grabbed his black suit and blue tie, throwing his mobile phone on his bed. Hanging the suit back on the door, Mark strided out of the room to inform Chad and company, feeling somewhat relieved that he could get out of the apartment without worrying too much about Raye. However, he knew he couldn't allow himself to totally forget her.

* * *

_Int. Auditorium, T*A Private Girls School, Juuban - __November 2nd 2003, 7:30 pm_

All was silent in the almost pitch-black auditorium of T*A Private Girls School, only the beams of moonlight seeping through the windows above providing light. The caretaker had locked up the school and left half an hour earlier, but that was no obstacle for the two shadows standing proud atop the large stage at the front.  
"Ah, so many good memories. I love this time of year." Flicking her long, tied back raven hair over her shoulder, the silhouette of Raye gazed nostalgically at the rows of seats, a deep shade of purple in the moonlight.  
"Indeed. I don't believe I've had the pleasure of hearing you sing before. It's something I'm looking forward to with great anticipation." Towering over her, the shadow figure of Malachite carefully scoured around for possible places to hide while stay in contact with the renegade senshi.  
"Thanks. Some people have said this year is one of my best line-ups." Raye seemed very egoistic, the fact that she was one of the best up-and-coming talents in Tokyo going to her head.  
"Indeed, but remember that you are on a mission to collect energy for the Dark Kingdom. Your job is to keep the audience focussed on yourself and give the signal to start the energy-draining process."

"I've got an idea about when to start that process. How about during the bridge of the final number?" asked Raye, pacing about the stage for ideas as to where to stand.  
"Which is?"  
"Eternal Melody. The bridge is when I start singing about the corners of space, that's when you start the energy collection." Malachite stood silent for a few moments, contemplating whether he would have enough time to collect a worthwhile amount of energy.  
"If I started the process the moment the bridge began, how much time would that give me to collect the energy?" Raye scratched her chin as she tried to work out how many bars into the piece the bridge was, comparing it to the total length of the piece and tempo.  
"I'd say about a minute and a half, give or take ten seconds." Malachite was thinking deeply. He knew that this was probably going to be vital to the final assault, so he had to work everything out perfectly.

"I think that would do. I was thinking of starting it two minutes before the end, but that might arouse some suspicion. We don't want to leave it too late though."  
"Yeah, that seems about right to me. The next problem is how to deal with the Moon Kingdom soldiers." Malachite was still in deep thought, although this time the problem seemed a little harder. It was definately going to be two versus three; He had seen the civilian identities of Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Neptune and the Mars Knight during the practice sessions and knew of their powers.  
"How many are we expecting?"  
"Almost a full house. Sailor Mercury's in Germany until christmas, Sailor Venus is out of action until the end of the month and Sailor Pluto's stuck in the middle of nowhere guarding the gates of time. Apart from that everyone's going to be there, so there's going to be a total of seven senshi." Still thinking increadibly hard, a look of disappoinment came across Malachite's shadowed face.

"That puts things in a different perspective then. I'll put Tomoe's energy drainers under the chairs in each corner and in the middle of the rows, but I'll hide back stage and hit the switch. If they don't see me, they probably won't suspect anything until it's too late." Sighing with slight anxiety, Raye gazed towards the moonlit orchestra pit behind her.  
"How fast can those things drain energy?"  
"Tomoe said that the energy drainers when put together can transfer a maximum of ten gigajoules per minute. That's enough to render a crowd of two hundred unconcious in a minute."  
"We're expecting three hundred on friday. If you're right it means we'll be able to get enough energy. Will I have an escape route if problems arise though?" Stepping down from the stage into the rows of the red seats, his shoulder-length silver hair gently flowing in the moonlight, Malachite inspected the seating of the venue.

"Yes, you will. Just use the portal link device that Professor Tomoe issued you with. Should the going get too tough, make yourself scarse and get out of there. Don't make a complete failure of yourself though otherwise I dread to think what Beryl and Wiseman would do." Gazing up at the crescent moon in the clear winter evening sky with disgust, Malachite contemplated what plans the high command may have in store after this next mission. Deep in his cold heart he believed that, yes, this time the Dark Kingdom would reign victoriously. However, there was something new.

Even though during the time in the Silver Millenium when he was a loyal guard to Prince Endymon of Earth, he had been in love with the Princess of Jupiter. Now, however, he pictured himself standing in the gardens of the emperess' palace in Dark Tokyo beside the Senshi of Mars. Looking back at the senshi of fire, her face glowing in the beams of silver seeping through the windows, he couldn't help but feel slightly sympathetic towards her. However, he knew that it was of upmost importance to keep those sorts of feelings locked away during a military campaign. He feared being outcast for having feelings for a senshi just like when Prince Diamond sympathised with Sailor Moon. This seemed all too harsh for him. Shaking away his fixation of Raye, Malachite opened a portal in front of him.

"Raye, let's go. I think we've discussed this enough now. We should be okay for friday now."  
"Yeah, okay." Raye raced down the steps and through the portal in record time. Malachite, however, gazed painfully at the stage for a few moments more before slowly walking through the portal himself.  
"Just keep your eyes on the mission, not the girl..."

* * *

**_End of Chapter 19_**


	20. Friends and Enemies

_Author's notes/Disclaimer: Chapter 20. Woohoo! I created the Knights and this story while Naoko Takeuchi owns everything else. And isn't it ironic that this chapter is published on Raye's birthday? Anyway, on with the story..._

**Chapter XX: Friends and Enemies.**

_Ext. Hiwaka View Apartments, Cherry Hill, Tokyo - November 2nd 2002, 7:25 pm._

The air around Cherry Hill that evening was bitterly crisp, the chill of winter appearing somewhat early. At the entrance to the apartment building dressed in his best dinner suit and blue tie stood Mark, anticiapting Darien's arrival. He was seriously looking forward to this meal, although inside he was extremely nervous. It wasn't everyday that he had the opportunity to dine with his future King and Queen of Crystal Tokyo. Looking around, Mark gazed at the neon metropolis of Tokyo city centre to the south, amazed at how vast yet small the rainbow glow of the neon lights atop the tall building a few miles away. Because his room faced the Hiwaka shrine, he had never seen this view at night before, so he was amazed by the sheer wonder of the city below him.

"Hey Mark. Get in." Mark's attention diverted away from the view as he noticed that Darien in his red sports car had pulled up beside him. He was wearing a very smart dinner suit, a lot like Mark's. Mark opened the door on the passenger side and sat down in the leather seat before belting himself in.  
"Hi Darien. Thanks for the lift."  
"That's okay. Anyway, who would want to go on the public transport dressed in a dinner suit?" Giving a slight snigger at Darien's joke, Mark gazed out the front window as the streets of the Juuban district came into view in the distance.  
"Heh. I guess so." Darien continued to smile as he switched on the radio, a random j-rock song quietly playing in the background.  
"Anyway, you're from England aren't you?" As Darien turned onto the inner-city motorway, the bright street lamps above gave the interior of the car a golden glow.

"Yeah. I'm originally from Liverpool, but my family moved to Southampton when I was ten."  
"Ah. So what do you think of Tokyo so far then?" Casting his eyes all over the place, Mark looked around at the various areas of the magnificent metropolis.  
"Pretty good. Cherry Hill's a pretty nice area, and Tokyo just seems amazing with all the neon lights and stuff. The best thing though is the honour of meeting you guys." Smirking with modesty, Darien gave a quiet laugh.  
"Hey, we're nothing special. We're just ordinary people in the end. Anyway, it's an honour to meet one of my English counterparts." Mark felt very honoured by Darien, but decided to change the subject before the conversation turned into one of nothing but ego-swelling respect for their future selves.  
"Just wondering, what was it like when you first found out about the Moon Kingdom, Tuxedo Mask and everything else?" Still smiling, Darien took a few moments to think before answering.

"Well, probably the same as everyone else. It started in the autumn of 1996 with these weird dreams where I was on the moon with a beautiful blonde girl who later turned out to be Serena. About a week after that I received a crystal rose in an unmarked silk-lined box. I didn't quite know what to make of it at first, but when I found a note hidden inside the box with my transformation key written on it, I tried it out and voilá, I'm wearing a very sharp tux.

"I was kinda freaked out about it at first because there was no explanation of what was going on, but there was a small part of my mind thinking how good this might turn out to be. The day after that I met Serena for the first time, although not on the friendliest of terms. I accidently knocked into her near the arcade which made her pretty mad. I also managed to pick up her test paper, which she had failed miserably on. I kinda teased her about the low mark, which made her livid." Mark chuckled at the story of Darien and Serena.

"That night I had another one of those dreams, and I was starting to become fed up with having so many strange dreams. I was in the middle of nowhere and the voice of a woman was telling me to protect the one who calls herself _Sailor Moon_. My first reaction to that was to wonder if that voice had meant to say _Sailor V_, but when I turned on the TV in the morning the top story on the news was that a fuku-wearing superheroine rumoured to be called Sailor Moon had foiled an attack by one of the agony uncles at Tokyo 1 radio.

"After that I had seemed to gain a sixth sense. Whenever something wasn't quite right, images of Serena in trouble would flash to my head, and as soon as I could figure out where it was I tried to get there as fast as I could. Ninety-nine percent of the time I get there but there have been a few occasions in the past where I had turned up after the battle had finished. On one occcasion I completely missed a battle which was going on a few metres away because I was finishing a college report.

"Overall though, it's something very fun. I can't believe how lucky I am to be the reincarnation of the Prince of Earth. I get plenty of action whenever there's a Dark Kingdom campaign going on, I've got the Kingdom of Crystal Tokyo to look forward to and I've also got a beautiful wife-to-be. I don't think it could get much better." Turning off the motorway, Darien glanced down at the clock in the dashboard.  
"Speaking of the Serena, have you popped the question to her yet?" Mark hoped he didn't seem too intrusive, but Darien simply glanced over at him for a split second before turning his attention back to the road.

"Can you keep a secret?" Mark paused, slightly surprised at Darien's question.  
"Yeah." replied Mark wearily.  
"I haven't actually proposed to her yet, but I've almost saved up enough for a beautiful diamond ring she's had her eye on for ages. I just need a few thousand more Yen. I'm hoping to buy it at the end of the month."  
"Cool."  
"I've decided that I'm gonna propose to her at the wedding of a friend of ours." Mark could probably guess who this friend was.  
"Amy Mizuno?"  
"Yeah, that's her. Who told you about the wedding?" Mark sighed as he looked out towards the stars, the faint red glow of the planet Mars encased within a sea of black.

"Raye did." Darien realised that he had just done what he had tried to avoid - reminding Mark of Raye. He quickly attempted to change the subject before he had the chance to accidently upset Mark further.  
"Oh. So what was it like when you first found out you were the Mars Knight?" Mark glanced back towards Darien before looking out at the many rows of cars ahead of them.

"Quite a shock at first, just like everyone else. One lunchtime back in late 1996 this grey cat with a golden crescent on its head came up to me and gave me a red jewelery case with my name engraved in gold on it. before I got chance to look inside my Sailor V-obsessed friend came over to join me for lunch. When I eventually got home that day I looked inside the box I found a quite magnificent necklace with a ruby pendant.

"Just then the same cat I saw earlier had just appeared next to me and started talking. At that point I didn't know whether I was losing my marbles or not, but after a bit of explaining by the cat, who called herself Ganymede, I soon discovered that she was telling the truth. That night I had my first Silver Millenium flashback, but it only explained the general events of the night. My personal involvement didn't become clear to me until a year and a half later.

"That first dream of the Silver Millenium was also the first time I saw her..." Darien glanced worryingly at Mark, not wanting him to become upset over Raye so close to the next mission.  
"Are you okay?" Mark stretched his arms before looking back at Darien with a faintly solemn look on his face.  
"Yeah, I'd much prfer to talk about her anyway. Talking about her increases my confidence of bringing her back and reminds me what exactly we're fighting for." Taking Mark's belief into account, Darien decided to change the subject back to Raye, even though her capture was causing him pain inside as well.

"So when did you first find out about Raye? Was it love at first sight between you two?" Again, Mark paused for a few moments to find the right words before replying.  
"Well, I think it was when we actually met for the first time in September, but I've known about her for a couple of years. The first time I saw her was the very first dream I had about the Silver Millenium when my escense was standing on the Royal Balcony looking down at the ballroom. As I looked down to the dancefloor below me, I noticed my former self entering the room hand-in-hand with an absolutely stunning maiden with long raven hair and gleaming indigo eyes. It was the events afterwards that give me nightmares." Darien glanced at Mark and sighed before turning his attention back to the road.

"I can understand. The Silver Millenium gives every senshi nightmares." Serena had already told Darien Mark's story of the Silver Millenum, so he had to be careful as to what he said.  
"Well, it was nearly a year or so until I finally discovered the civilian name of her reincarnation, and even then Central were weary to give out any further information. Nothing much happened for the year after that since I had my GCSEs as well as protecting Britain to worry about, but I always kept a picture handy to remind myself of the past. I was convinced that our past lives were connected to our present lives.

"Then came the summer of '97. A very unpleasant year. Our lot were very distraught to find out that the Senshi were dying, and both the Germans and the Americans as well as ourselves were trying to pull together funds to fly to Tokyo and help you out. The battles ended before we had put together the money, which was good in a way, but it posed a new problem." A large apartment block came into view as Darien slowed down.

"What problem was that?"  
"The supposed 'Big Freeze' that would allow Princess Serenity to create Crystal Tokyo had not yet occurred, and with the Princess dead the Earth could not survive this ecological disaster. The command centres of the three remaining divisions did a thorough worldwide search for any sign of the Star Seeds of the Princesses while our Pluto Knight took temporary charge of the gates of time. It took nearly three months, but it was the Germans that got the first results when they found Sailor Mercury's star seed in the Black Forest. The only problem was that because the black forest is so big, it took them a further two months of searching to find it.

"After that we stepped up our searches found what appeared to be Sailor Mars' energy signiature somewhere in the far south-east of England. We checked it out and found that her star seed was buried within the white cliffs of Dover. I decided to take personal charge of the recovery of Sailor Mars' star seed since Anna was spending the summer in Tokyo. It took us nearly two months, but we finally managed to drill a hole deep enough to get a small robot in and recover the star seed. A couple of days after that we finally got the star seed out undamaged, but something very strange happened to me when I held her glowing star seed in my own two hands..." Darien listened to Mark with genuine interest about the recovery of the star seeds.

"When I picked up the star seed, everything just froze. The other Knights were completely still, the waves of the English channel behind us stopped dead and I stopped breathing. My esscense was still moving, but everything else had just stopped. As I looked around I realised that I was out of my body even though I was still in my Knight uniform. It was increadibly weird seeing time stand still around me. I turned round, and standing right in front of me was the Princess of Mars herself, looking exactly like she did on the eve of the Silver Millenium disaster. I was very scared at the time, especially after learning about my involvement in the disaster, but she just walked closer and closer towards me.

"She stopped right in front of me and instantly wrapped her arms around me. I honestly didn't know what to make of it all, I mean a million or more thoughts were flying through my head. It was then that she whispered into my ear - _'Prince Mark. We finally meet again after all this time, my love. One thousand long years, but now I see your beautiful face once again.' _- I remember every single word she said. She did not speak in English, or any other language I know of for that matter, but I somehow understood every word she said. She then moved her head back and kissed me. At that moment I felt like I had known and loved her for an eternity. When she finally broke the kiss after a long while, she whispered something else - _'I'm waiting for you Mark. Please say you'll be there for me.'_ - before I had the chance to say anything else I was back in my own body and I collapsed to the ground, the star seed carefully cushioned between my hands."

Darien turned the engine off just as Mark finished his story. Without realising how long he had been talking for, Mark now realised that they were in a large car park, a brightly lit apartment block shadowing them. Darien realised that he had just gained a very valuble insight into Mark and Raye, and was now certain in his mind that Mark was the man to bring Raye home. He knew that Serena would have just as good a chance of bringing back Raye, seeing as she had been one of Raye's closest friends since they first met. However, how would that affect the possible destinies of Mark and Raye if Serena saved Raye?

Serena knew herself that it would be best to let mark handle the situation when the time comes, but after hearing this story Darien would have to emphasize this point to her even further. As Darien and Mark stepped out of the car and made their way towards the apartment block, he knew that by finding out more about Mark the plans for the final battle could be edited to help him. However, he didn't want to bring up the plans in question at a humble dinner party - he had enough on his plate to worry about, including Serena's cooking.

* * *

_Int. Recovery Room 1, Moon Kingdom Central Tokyo Branch - November 2nd 2002, 7:50 pm._

It had been over a week since Mina had been struck on the head by Sailor Mars, but already she had regained consciousness and was able to walk on her own two feet again. Her face still showed that she was still quite ill, being as pale as it was, but her overoptimistic personality had convinced the rest of her that she was okay. As she dropped the Sailor V Manga Raye had given to her on her Birthday onto her bed, Mina lifted the covers off herself and started stretching her arms, her torso and then her legs.

"Gotta get back into shape... Gotta be ready to help the girls..." With a look of sheer determination in her eyes, Mina stretched some more before finally standing straight. As she made her way to her temporary wardrobe and took out her orange and black running suit, a pair of white trainers and a white towel, Artemis entered the room.  
"Mina! What are you doing!" Artemis disapproved of the attire Mina held in her arms.  
"I'm just getting a bit of exercise before I get a shower." Artemis simply shook his head.  
"You of all people should know that you should never aggrevate an injury. It'll keep you out of action for longer." Mina simply shrugged her sholders and knelt down to the white cat.  
"But it's also best to exercise the unaffected muscles while you're on the road to recovery otherwise it'll take longer to get back on top form." It was useless for Artemis to try and argue - Mina had an answer for everything to do with sport and the human body.

"Just watch your head. You're very lucky Sailor Mars didn't break a hole in your skull, and you're also lucky you only got a flesh wound."  
"I know Artemis. I still get headaches, but not that often. I'll be okay, trust me."  
"Mina, I really can't see why you want to train now when you've got all the time in the world. You're too ill to take part in next Friday's mission, and I don't think the next mission after that will take place until December -"  
"Which gives me about a month, which is virtually nothing in recovery time. David Beckham, the England soccer captain, broke his metatarsel bone about a month before the 2002 World Cup tournament. He trained long and hard on his other muscles for that month, and even though he wasn't at one hundred percent his metatarsel bone had healed and he could lead out his team. That's why training your other muscles while injured when you've only got a small timeframe is important." Artemis simply stepped aside as Mina left her room.

"And why did you use _that_ example in particular?"  
"Because David Beckham is such a hunk!" called Mina as Artemis sighed in disbelief.

* * *

_Int. Chiba Residence - November 2nd 2003, 8:00 pm._

Mark was very impressed by the home of Darien and Serena. The setting of Juuban wasn't quite as beautiful as Cherry Hill, but still the apartments themselves seemed magnificent. On the outside they looked pretty well maintained and well lit and the balconies leading up had a very impressive view of South Tokyo, Cherry Hill lurking in the south east of the landscape. However, he was even more impressed by the inside of the apartment. As he took off his shoes - he knew that it was customary to take off your shoes inside a Japanese house - he looked around at the many pictures on the wall, the lamps giving them a yellow tint.

There were many pictures on the walls of the hallway, most of them pictures of Darien and Serena. However, he noticed one fairly large photo in particular. It seemed like a large group photo, yet it didn't seem like an office party or school photo. In it stood several people. Mina was leaning on the shoulder of a fairly short woman with blue hair. Serena with her arm around Darien kneeling by a pre-adolescent girl with bright pink hair, her hairstyle almost identical to Serena. Mark wondered if she was Serena's little sister. 

Stood behind Serena, Darien and the pink-haired girl were Amara and Michelle, arms aournd each others' waists as they posed for the camera. Either side of them stood Hotaru and an older woman, someone who looked pretty much like Sailor Pluto. In the far left hand side stood three young men, each dressed in red suits and black shirts. Mark had no idea who these three guys were, but it was fairly obvious that the Scouts knew them. Finally to the far right of the picture stood Raye, back to back with Lita, both women making peace signs towards the camera. 

That had just struck Mark. He knew that Raye and Lita were friends, but seeing the two together in the picture made him feel slightly guilty - slightly guilty about the fact he had exploded in such a fashion at Lita the week before. He now realised that he was going through was probably ten times worse for Lita. Even though he had known _about _Raye for nearly six years, Lita had known Raye for six years and was one of her best friends.

"We've invited a few other guests around as well. We're just waiting for Michelle and Amara now. If you'd just like to follow me." Mark quickly looked away from the photo and followed Darien into the lounge, the amber glow of the lamps givinag it a humble feel. As he saw the low table in front of him, he looked around to see who was present. Hotaru, Darien and Lita. As he knelt down at his place, butterflies invaded his stomach as Lita looked him in the eyes. She seemed slightly angry, her typical attitude towards Mark.

"I'll be back in a few moments. I've just gotta help Serena in the kitchen." As Darien left to help his girlfriend out, Mark smiled at the two women at the table.  
"Good evening ladies." Hotaru, wearing a fairly long black dress, smiled back at him. Lita, dressd in a quite glamorous green dress, simply looked at Mark before slowly turning away.  
"You must be Mark. I've heard a lot about you." Hotaru seemed nice enough, but he sincerely hoped that Lita hadn't been spreading lies about him.  
"Indeed I am." Mark looked over towards Lita, noticing that she was still looking away. However, he noticed that she had a ratehr dejected look on her face. It was now or never.

"Lita, can I talk to you in private please?" Lita seemed very surprised at Mark's request, but grudgingly accepted.  
"Yeah, go on then." Lita slowly stood up and smoothed out her dress before leading Mark to the dim hallway. Hotaru gazed at the pair, interested as to what was going on.  
"Lita, I'd like to apologise for all that stuff I said at the Uni last week." Lita looked very unimpressed.  
"It's a bit late for that, isn't it?" Lita's anger seemed to intensify tenfold at Mark's apology.  
"Please Lita, just hear me out, okay?" Lita paused for a short while. From what Mark could tell, she was trying to calm herself down.

"Okay then. What's brought this on all of a sudden?" Mark simply glanced at the wall behind her.  
"That photo. You back to back with Raye. It just made me feel really guilty after all that I said." Lita glanced at the photo behind her and realised exactly what he meant. She simply froze as she tried to remember what everyone was like when that photo was taken.  
"So... You just saw us in the photo and it made you feel guilty..." Mark paused to find his words as Lita continued to gaze into the photo on the wall.  
"Yeah. I knew you were friends with Raye, but I never realised exactly how close until I saw that photo. Now I can put things into perspective. You're probably feeling a whole lot worse than me about this Raye situation..."

"You can say that again. She's gone through a hell of a lot since that photo was taken. It's all those events since that's made us extra worried. She had seemed fairly bright over the past couple of months, whether it's down to you I don't know, but until then she's been extremely quiet and shy. Up until her grandpa died she was quite snobby and very tempermental, but still very lively. She liked nothing more than to take swipes at Serena. After that everything fell apart."

"I've heard the whole story. Her father tries to take legal care of her, but the case is thrown out because the hearing would be after her eighteenth birthday, and the year after Chad leaves her so she tries to commit suicide cause she thought she had nothing left to live for. I've heard Chad's side as well." Lita turned around and looked at him with a hurt expression on her face.  
"Don't bring him into this."

"Okay, I didn't mean to mention him anyway. All I'm asking is for peace between us two. I was wrong for shouting at you like I did, and I can understand why you were chasing after her. I'd sooner be friends with you than enemies. If we work together, we'll probably be able to get her back sooner." Mark extended out his right hand towards Lita. "Whaddya say?" Lita paused for a few agonising moments before cautiously shaking Mark's hand.  
"Yeah, okay. I'll give it a go. Anything to bring Raye back."

* * *

_**End of Chapter 20**_


	21. Mark's Day in the Spotlight

_Author's Notes/Disclaimer: Don't ya just hate exam season? Well, that's the reason why this chapter's taken so long so I apologise again. I also need motivation from you guys 'cause I wanna get this done by the end of the year so I can enter it for a fanfic awards ceremony. Thanks for your patience guys._

_Naoko Takeuchi-sama owns the Sailor Scouts and everything else Sailor Moon-related, while I own the Knights._

**Chapter XXI: Mark's Day in the Spotlight. **

_Ext. West Auditorium, T*A Girls School, Juuban - November 8th 2002, 6:15 pm. _

The night of destiny was now here. Outside in the darkness of the evening the air was crisp and cold. Slowly making his way up to the stage entrance of the large auditorium, the large red pack of music under his left arm and Chad, Jack and Sarah following closely behind, Mark felt extremely nervous. Nervous, but not about the fact that he was performing - he had always felt confident when playing the piano in front of large crowds. Tonight was going to be one of the best chances to win Raye back, and he could not afford to do anything wrong. Looking around at other musicians emerging from cars and busses, he knew all too well that should it all go wrong those people might die tonight. It wasn't a very promising situation, but he had faced worse in the past. It was because of this that he decided not to talk to his flatmates on the way - he was too scared that this might be the last night of their lives.

As he made his way up the door he paused on the final step, turned around and gazed up at the thin crescent moon in the clear night sky.  
"Okay. Here goes." With one last breath Mark quickly turned back around and entered the auditorium, the warmth from the heaters a welcome change to the bitterly cold atmosphere outside. Taking one last glance at his flatmates, Mark closed his eyes as he tried to find his strength.  
"Hey Mark, what's wrong? You've been acting weird all the way here." Mark didn't open his eyes, but paused for a few moments before replying to Jack's question.  
"Just nerves, that's all." Jack seemed slightly suspicious with Mark.  
"Surely it can't be just nerves. You've practiced the most out of the three of us, so why should you worry?" Mark sighed before looking around the room at the other musicians. Jack instantly recognised the downhearted look on his face and realised what was going on.

"It's that temple girl, isn't it?" Mark slowly nodded his head as he continued to look around.  
"Why's he still interested in her after how she behaved?" Chad seemed rather confused at Mark's logic. Raye had dumped Mark and threw herself at his feet almost instantaneously, something which he did not take too kindly to.  
"Chad, I know you mean well, but believe me Raye was certainly not herself on that day. If she's in the right frame of mind this might be a chance to impress her." Jack simply sighed at Mark's comments. At that moment though Mark found a way out of the conversation - Lita had just arrived. Mark immediately walked over to meet her at the door, leaving Chad, Jack and Sarah in the middle of the room.  
"Two words. Lovestruck fool." Replied Chad to Jack and Sarah.

"Anything yet?" Lita removed her brown coat to reveal a stunning green, thick-strap dress. Mark simply raised his eyebrows in awe before answering her question.  
"No sign of either of them yet. I must say you're looking sharp tonight." Lita smiled modestly at Mark's comment, but still kept in mind the situation.  
"Thanks, but you're supposed to be going for Raye, not me." Mark simply shrugged his shoulders.  
"Just an innocent comment. Anyway, Raye and the safety of this audience are my top priorities." Lita reached inside her pea-green handbag and took out two silver, crescent-shaped pins, attaching one to her own dress before handing the other to Mark.  
"A gift from Artemis." Mark closely examined it before attaching it to his own black suit.  
"I take it that's more than just an ordinary pin." Mark had seen it too many times before in movies - the main character receives a gift which turns out to be more than it first appears.  
"Yeah. It's a protective shield. Artemis has narrowed down the frequency of any possible energy drainer to a small range. He says these pins will protect us from any drainage attack and allow us to locate the root of the problem." Mark raised his eyebrows in interest at Lita's description.

"So are we just waiting for Michelle now?" Mark glanced down at his watch - it was nearly half six, one hour until the performance kicked off.  
"Yeah. It'll be easy to find her. Just look for Amara's souped-up sports car."  
"So what about Serena and the others? Will we have a way of contacting them if something happens?" Lita looked back towards the exit before answering Mark's question.  
"They've got front row seats. They'll be able to see the orchestra pit, so we'll only need to give simple hand signals."  
"And what about Malachite? He's probably gonna be here as well. He was the one that kidnapped her after all." Lita seemed pretty anxious at Mark's question, she too was very concerned about Malachite's involvement with Raye.  
"I don't know, but just be suspicious of any guy with long silver hair." The rather cheery mood backstage was completely juxtaposed to Mark and Lita's feelings at that moment. This was going to be very hazardous, and they had potentially had three hundred lives on the line. However, they were interupted as the rough purr of a top-end sports car could be heard from outside the entrance.

"I guess that must be Michelle and Amara. I'll go look around and see if I can find Raye." Lita quickly turned around to see Mark briskly walking away.  
"Mark! Wait!" Lita started to follow Mark, but was stopped abruptly when Amara and Michelle called her over.  
"Hey Lita. Lookin' forward to tonight?" Michelle seemed to be very happy, an almost Mina brand of happiness. However, Lita was not interested.  
"Not really. Things just started to go wrong. I gotta catch Mark before he does something stupid." Without saying another word Lita started to persue Mark, taking care not to trip over her high heels, leaving the couple bewildered as to what was going on.

* * *

"Come in." Seemingly a world away from the chaos of the musicians tuning and warming up, Raye was in her rather small dressing room brushing her glistening raven hair which cascaded down her bare back. Her long, thin strapped ruby red dress gave her an extremely elegant look, while her ruby rose earrings glistened from the table lamps. The door slowly opened to reveal a very smart-looking Malachite in a simple tuxedo, his silver head tied back into a ponytail.

"Good evening Raye." The general raised his eyebrows in awe as he admired her beauty. "I must say you look absolutely stunning tonight." Raye's eyes lit up at Malachite's flattering comments.  
"Thank you very much." replied Raye, her face starting to turn red in flattery. "You look pretty good yourself."  
"Thank you. I've had to blend in with the crowd, so I decided to dress formally. I thought I'd never see the day I dressed in a tuxedo." Raye giggled at his comments as she checked her face for any blemishes. However, as she was doing so she saw a white flower appear before her - a Casablanca Lilly.  
"Oh wow! Where did you get that from?" The Casablanca lilly was her favourite flower, so it nearly brought her to tears. She could have been mistaken, but was Malachite actually showing kindness? She had never seen him like this before.  
"I have my sources. Just keep you mind focussed on your singing and your purpose." He spoke in a deadly serious tone, but as Raye turned around to look at him she noticed a faint smile on his face.  
"I will do." Raye slowly stood up and turned around, smiling at Malachite before walking towards the door. Malachite instantly opened the door as she gracefully strided out into the corridoor.

* * *

"Mark! What the hell were you thinking about?" Lita had managed to catch up with the English Mars Senshi and was fuming. One hand his shoulder, Lita leant on him while trying to keep her cool.  
"I'm sorry Lita. I'm just fixated on the idea of getting Raye back. I just love her so much I just want to get her back as soon as possible." Mark was calm, but underneath the surface Lita knew that he was starting to get desparate. It had been over two weeks since Raye's kidnap and Mark was starting to show the signs of intense worry.  
"Just calm yourself down Mark. If you get too trigger-happy here you'll just end up making things worse and stop any chance of getting Raye back" Mark took a deep breath before nodding his head. Lita was right. He couldn't just barge in and have a one-on-one fight against Malachite. He had to be more subtle, maybe try and get Raye back without confrontation. Being without her had hurt him considerably and had affected the way he thought about things. He seemed to barge into situations desperately instead of thinking the problem through like he used to.

"You're right. I just need to think things through." He felt dejected as he leant back against the wall. His solenmn mood soon vanished and was replaced by one of anger as Raye came into view and walked down the corridoor, Malachite at her side. Lita instantly took her hand off Mark's shoulder and also leant against the wall, a bitter expression emerging on her face. They remained silent as they glared at the dark general, trying to hide their anger.

Malachite refused to speed up, instead he simply gazed scornfully at the Mars and Jupiter senshi. Raye also looked over towards the pair, but snorted disgustedly and walked away in a snobbish fashion. Mark felt like his heart had just been torn out and kicked around on the floor. Lita was completely enraged. As soon as the pair were out of sight Lita looked at Mark with a look of sheer fury on her face.  
"Mark, new plan. Get her back by any means neccessary. I do not want to see her with HIM any longer!" Lita spoke in a quiet, menacing tone, sending a chill up Mark's spine. Mark stayed silent, only nodding his head. The last thing anyone needed was Lita exploding before any possible battle, and the last thing anyone wanted, especially Mark, was a wasted opportunity for getting Raye back.

* * *

_Int. Recovery Ward, Moon Kingdom Central Tokyo Branch - November 8th 2002, 7:30 pm._

All was silent in the corridoors of Central that night. Luna and Artemis were stuck in the main control room keeping an eye on events at the concert. However, in the recovery ward everything was quiet, but for a different reason. Inside her room Mina, dressed in a white jumper and a comfortable pair of sky blue jeans, was placing her transformation pen in her small black handbag without making a single noise. She had unwound the bandages from around her crown and her long golden hair was tied into a platted ponytail. She had already placed some of her pillows underneath her bedsheets and had put on the only pair of running shoes she had with her. Taking one last glance to check if everything was in place, she turned off the light and slowly slipped out through the door.

Her light attire and pale skin blended in with the gleaming whiteness of the corridoor, seemingly making her a ghost wandering through the realms of the underground base. Keeping her back firmly against the wall, Mina slowly crept her way around the labryinth of Central, taking care to avoid or reposition every camera she came across.

"I gotta get out of here. The girls need me." She continued to creep her way around the sterile corridoors of central until she eventually came to the giant steel blast door, her gateway to the outside world. She casually pressed the small green button at the side, causing the huge door to creek and rumble and reveal the concrete staricase to the arcade. As she reached the top she sliently opened the door leading out to the adjacent alleyway, poking her head out to check if there were any thugs or drug dealers lurking around.

She and Lita had once stumbled across a gang of thugs in the alley who were ready to mug them. However, they managed to hide behind a set of dumpsters and transform before they were discovered. When the thugs discovered that Sailor Venus and Sailor Jupiter were standing right in front of them they knew they didn't stand a chance and ran. Luckily tonight there was no-one to get in Mina's way.

It was a typical friday night in Juuban, the road running past the arcade seemed like a motorway as vast numbers of cars headed for the city centre to party. As Mina knew, where there are clubs and parties, there are taxis. Immediately she ran to the roadside and flagged down the first cab she saw, promptly getting inside.  
"Where to, lady?" asked the tall, slim cab driver, looking at the blonde senshi in his rear view mirror.  
"T.A. School please, I need to get there quickly." The driver greeted Mina's request with an anxious breath.  
"I can get you there, but it'll take a while. There's been a big accident on the main road and it's been completely blocked off. All the smaller streets around are pretty congested." A look of worry come across Mina's face, but she knew that this was probably the only way of getting to the concert safely without transforming into Sailor Venus.  
"Okay. Just try and get me there as soon as possible please." The cab driver simply smiled and hit the accellerator.  
"Yes ma'am."

* * *

_Int. West Auditorium, T*A Girls School, Juuban - November 8th 2002, 8:35 pm._

The concert had now been underway for over an hour and was quickly approaching the climax. The crowd sat admirantly in their seats as Raye sang her way through _"A More Beautiful Morning Will Come" _with plenty of grace and serenity. However, not everyone was interested in the music. On the front row Serena, Darien, Hotaru and Amara anxiously waited for any bad signs from the audience. In the orchestra pit Mark, Lita and Michelle couldn't afford to keep tabs on what was going on around them - they had the music to concentrate on. However, a few rows behind the Senshi Malachite sat emotionless waiting for his moment, the opportunity to put the plan into action.

"Thank you! Thank you! I'd like to dedicate this final number tonight to someone very special to me. This particular person is here in the building tonight, in fact he's sitting at the piano right now." Mark felt a chill go down his spine. Something was not right. Surely Raye couldn't be dedicating the final song to him? Surely not after being dumped by her in such a degrading fashion, and surely not now that she was a Dark Kingdom fighter. He looked around to see Lita with a very confused look on her face, she must have been thinking the exact same thing.

However, what made it all the more chilling was that he was certain he had heard that speech somewhere before. However, his memory couldn't have picked a worse opportunity to fail. He had absolutely no idea where he had heard it.  
"Mark, if you'd please stand up." He slowly looked up at the elegantly-dressed singer, noticing the somewhat innocent, happy-go-lucky expression on her face before hesetantly standing up to a round of applause from the audience. This seemed like deja-vous to Mark, but where from? He looked out towards the rows of people to find the Senshi with very worried expressions on their faces on the front row. Looking further back he noticed Malachite siting comfortably in his seat. However, as soon as he did so a small, evil smirk appeared on the face of the Silver General. It was then that it hit Mark - this was like the dream he had a couple of weeks ago. It was time for action.

Mark swiftly sat down again as he grabbed the attention of Lita and Michelle. He seemed fairly rushed.  
"The storm's gathering." Lita and Michelle both nodded their heads in unison and looked out towards the audience. Lita focussed on Malachite, raising her eyebrows with a broad smile on her face as if to taunt him. Michelle focussed on Serena and scratched her shoulder, to which Serena nodded her head. It was time to face the music. Mark stepped up to the synthesizers and began the intro to the final piece.

_Living life under the golden sun  
In my heart you are forever with me  
I need no words, only your love  
Your touch, your soul, everything that you may be_

_Oh, your bravery sweeps me off my feet,  
In my heart, I believe we were destined to meet,  
The light of our love, shining bright,_

_Oh, my love, those nights under the velvet sky and stars  
My love, we shall never be apart  
Not 'till the very end  
The Eternal Melody of us  
Our song we send._

There was nothing peculiar happening so far, but the look of anxiety on the faces of the Senshi was all too apparant. Looking around, Serena noticed a few members of the audience yawning, but nothing too alarming. However, she had her hand on her locket, ready to run away to a quiet location and transform at any moment.
    
    _Brought to me by destiny
    You and I, always together
    Whatever happens to us
    I'll be with you forever_
    
    _Oh, remembering the day when we first met,
    Oh, something I don't want to forget
    The days of sorrow, gone away_

_Oh, my love, those nights under the velvet sky and stars  
My love, we shall never be apart  
Not 'till the very end  
Our Eternal Melody_

It was time for kick off. Malachite looked at his watch and pressed a button as the five energy drainers started up. However, the senshi on the front row were completely unaware of this for the moment. There was an increased sense of tiredness throughout the audience as Raye powered into the bridge.

_Where there is no sound in the corners of space  
Everybody is alone  
When at least our feelings of love meet  
I can go on to tomorrow_

At that moment the Senshi realised that something was very wrong. Some members of the audience had now fainted and the rest were now feeling increadibly tired. Serena, Darien and the other senshi immediately headed for the exit. Mark, Lita and Michelle couldn't transform though, they were still playing and the orchestra were seemingly unaffected. They played on, powerless to help the other senshi.

_Oh, my love, those nights under the velvet sky and stars  
My love, we shall never be apart  
Not 'till the very end  
For our Melody_

_Oh, my love, those nights under the velvet sky and stars  
My love, we shall never be apart  
Not 'till the very end  
Our love we send_

Mark couldn't take it any longer. He set the synthesizers to play the final phrase before running out of the pit and out of the nearest exit. As the clarinet finished the piece Lita threw her drumsticks aside and grabbed the attention of the orchestra.  
"Everyone! You've all gotta get out of here now! Something's happened to the audience!" As the entire orchestra gazed out of the pit to find the entire audience unconscious and the Sailor Scouts bursting in through the side entrance a mood of mass panic befell them. Immediately they scattered and left through the various exits.

By that time Mark had transformed into the Mars Knight and was desperately searching for Raye and Malachite.  
"Where did they go?" called out the Mars Knight to Sailor Moon. The hall was now completely deserted bar the bodies of the audience, allowing Sailors Jupiter and Neptune to transform.  
"Mars! That's not important at the moment! You've gotta find those drainers before someone dies!" Shuddering with frustration, the Mars Knight whipped out his DataPad and opened up the scanner. Firstly taking a scan of the crescent pin still attaced to his chest, the Mars Knight frantically scanned the room for the root of the problem.  
"Hurry up dammit!" Every second the scan took was a second less that he had chance to take back Raye with. It was increadibly nerve-racking for him, but it had to be done. A few moments later he found what he needed.

"Got 'em! They're under seats! There's one in each corner and one somewhere in the centre! They're one way, so you've got no chance of getting the energy back! Just destroy any device you find!"Before the Sailor Senshi got a chance to reply, the Mars Knight lept up onto the stage and ran in hot persuit of Raye and Malachite.  
"Where the hell's he going?!" Sailor Moon seemed unnaturally angry, probably because of the seriousness of the situation.  
"Leave him Sailor Moon. He's just a lovestruck idiot. You of all people should sympathise what he's going through." Sailor Moon glared at Sailor Jupiter, who was searching for one of the drainers, before holding her head in her hands.  
"You're gonna get yourself killed Mars!" she thought to herself before sprinting backstage as fast as her legs could take her.

* * *

"Raye! Where are you?" The Mars Knight searched frantically through the long, dank corridoors of the backstage area for any sign of Raye, but to no avail. Wherever he looked he found no sign of life whatsoever. Alone in his fears he felt vulnerable, and as he opened door after door his fears intensified.  
"Dammit! Give me a sign somebody!" At that moment he found a sign - a very bad one. He froze as he felt cold steel press against the back of his head, followed by a click.  
"This is your sign. A warning sign." The Mars Knight instantly recognised the voice. It was Malachite.

"You sneaky little..."  
"Don't say a word unless told to, my firey friend. If you haven't noticed already, I got a loaded pistol held to your head." Breathing deeply, the Mars Knight tried to maintain his composure.  
"This must be a sign of the times. The Dark Kingdom is resorting to using barbaric Earth weapons."  
"Anything that gets the job done. It doesn't matter where it came from." The Mars Knight stayed perfectly still. With Raye under the control of the Dark Kingdom, his death could mean that she might never return to the Moon Kingdom again.  
"Where's Raye?"  
"The girl? She's on her way back to our command centre right now. But isn't this just so ironic? I have the potential right here right now to end this war once and for all." Mark remained adement that he could talk his way out of the situation, but he knew he was treading an extremely thin line.

"Why didn't you just pull the trigger immediately then?"  
"Because I have one last thing to tell you before you meet your bitter end. I have a confession to make. You know your stunningly beautiful princess Raye? Well, I like her. I like her a lot." This was both humilliating and enraging for the Mars Knight, believing that he was just seconds from his death. Malachite was admiting his love for Raye and enfuriating Mark because of Raye's current siding. This was the time to make his last stance.  
"I've got one thing to say to you as well. You're so full of bullshit. I don't really care for this any more. All I know is that the Moon will prevail, with or without Raye, so you can take that gun and shove it up your arse!" Malachite was fuming. Never before had he been insulted so vividly. He was now certain in his mind that he had to shut the Mars Knight up for good.

"Time to say goodbye, Mars!"

* * *

**_End of Chapter 21_**


	22. With or Without You

_Author's Note/Disclaimer: The summer holidays are here! Now it's time to really get to work on finishing this story off. I can say that this is the final stretch, with a few revelations and twists before the final battle. Stay patient and enjoy._

_Naoko Takeuchi owns the Sailor Scouts, while I created the Knights._

**Chapter XXII: With Or Without You**

The Mars Knight felt no fear as the final second dawned upon him. His life flashed before his eyes as he anticipated the end. Growing up in Liverpool, moving to Southampton, discovering that he was the Mars Knight, learning about his dark past, discovering his connection to Raye, flying out to Tokyo, meeting Raye for the first time and losing her to the Dark Kingdom. He closed his eyes as he heard the explosive click of the metal, but instead of a bullet piercing his brain he heard the scream of Malachite. He was still alive. The Mars Knight swiftly opened his eyes and turned around to see Malachite clutching his now bleeding right hand, the gun knocked from it.

The Mars Knight wasted no time in taking advantage of the situation. He saw the silver gun on the floor and placed his hand over it. Within the space of two seconds he had turned the tables on Malachite and was now ready to put the gun beyond use.  
"**_MARS FIREWALL ACTIVATE!!!_**" As the Mars Knight moved his hand away from the gun an infernal dome of fire engulfed the weapon. However, he had put his other hand over the shoes of the silver-haired general, causing another column of fire to engulf him. As Malachite screamed in agony the Mars Knight lept back and looked to see what had caused Malachite to drop his gun.

"That was close. You could have gotten yourself killed Mars." Shaken, the Mars Knight looked to his left to see Sailor Venus leaning against the doorway, a typical smile on her face. The Mars Knight said nothing, instead leaping towards her and embracing her in an extremely heartfelt hug. "Hey, what's all this about? I'm not Raye you know."  
"I know! I just can't believe your timing though! You couldn't have picked a better moment ever!" Sailor Venus sympathetically patted him on the back, unaware of exactly how close the Mars Knight was to his death. However, deep inside she felt very satisfied at how he had just lept over to her and embraced her like he did, and the smile on her face showed every last thought in her head.

"Mars! I need an explanation now!" Sailor Moon stormed out from down the corridoor with a very anxious look on her face. Seeing the Mars Knight tightly hugging Sailor Venus and the two columns of fire, however, caused her to stop dead in her tracks. "Venus! What are you doing here?" The Mars Knight instantly let go of Sailor Venus and stood up straight as he became aware of Sailor Moon's prescence.  
"I managed to sneak out of Central. I knew you guys would need some help, and it looks like I came just in time." The Mars Knight breathed anxiously as Sailor Moon cast her attention to the two columns of fire.  
"Mars, what's in those columns?" She spoke with a very displeased tone, she was disappointed that the Mars Knight had so foolishly followed Malachite into what appeared to be a trap. The Mars Knight slowly walked towards the raging columns and slowly knelt to the ground and placed his hands on the floor. The colums instantly disappeared into nothing, revealing an amber blob of molten metal and small fragments of clothing. The gold threads woven into the cloth fragments made it clear that it was from Malachite.  
"What once was Malachite and a pistol I believe." said the Mars Knight thoughtfully yet anxiously as he focussed in and scanned the fragments of the cloth. "It looks like he teleportd away, but I think he took a fair bit of damaged. I won't be surprised if he's as red as a beetroot the next time we see him." Sailor Moon still didn't look amused.

"And what about Sailor Mars?" The Mars Knight paused and raised his head in thought before standing up and turning to face Sailor Moon.  
"Malachite said she's long gone. She's on her way back to a Dark Kingdom checkpoint. I don't think it would be wise to try and find her after so long." The Mars Knight sighed before removing his visor from his head, transforming back into Mark.  
"And just what made you rush after him without thinking? You could have gotten yourself killed if I hadn't have turned up!" Sailor Venus also seemed very annoyed at the Mars Knight's escapades.  
"You both know very well why I rushed after him. It was a instant reaction. I just didn't anticipate what happened after that."

"Mark, I can understand, but..." Sailor Moon was trying to reason with him, but she was having trouble finding her words. She couldn't exactly just tell Mark to forget about Raye completely - she had lost Darien to Queen Berryl seven years ago. She knew all too well the pain that Mark was going through, and she was also having similar pains to him since Raye was her best friend.  
"... ah forget it. I just understand. I been through exactly what you're going through now. Just use your head next time before rushing into situations. If you get killed, we can say goodbye to Raye forever."  
"I understand. I'll try my best to use my judgement next time." Mark was in no mood to argue with Sailor Moon. He had done what he had tried to avoid, and he knew it all too well.  
"Good to hear it." With that Mark looked back up at his future Queen, a slight smile on his face trying to mask his frustration. He slowly began to walk towards the stage before he was once again stopped by Sailor Moon.

"Mark, it may be a good idea to transform back. The others will need your help with reviving the audience." Mark nodded understandingly before walking away, tugging out his glistening red pendant from underneath his shirt.  
"He's starting to get desparate. It looks like he's losing all respect for his own life." sighed Sailor Venus solemnly as she leant back against the wall.  
"I was the same. Surely you must remember how I was back then." Sailor V smiled as she recalled her memories.  
"That was the only time when you wasn't a crybaby. Losing Darien changed you completely until you got him back a couple of months later, but..." She took a long pause before continuing. "... but nearly losing Raye's changed you forever. I mean, look at yourself. You're calm, thoughtful, and as strange as it seems, very intelligent. You're the complete opposite to what you were like as a teen." Sailor Moon listened very carefully though her eyes were wide open with surprise.

"The fact is, you're acting more like the Queen Serenity of the future than the Serena Tsukino of the past. I don't know whether someone has already told you this or not, but now you're a really great person. Not that you wasn't a great person in the past, but it just seems that you've already become the person that will lead the Earth out of its icy tomb." Sailor Moon leant forward in shock and interest as Sailor Venus looked towards the floor.  
"Mina..."  
"In fact, the more I think about it, the more I believe that destiny was to blame for Raye and Chad splitting. The more I think that destiny was responsible for Darien and Raye going out on that dinner date and causing an argument between yourself and Raye afterwards." Slowly Sailor Venus began to look up and look Sailor Moon in the eye. "Because you came back to the temple later to talk things over, you managed to find Raye before she died. Everything, Chad leaving, that thing Darien had going with her. It was all planned to act as a wake-up call for the Queen Serenity inside you. Only the near loss of your best friend could possibly make you realise your responsibilities, and it looks like it worked a treat."

Sailor Moon just stood completely still, staring Sailor Venus in the eye with a look of complete shock. Surely the same destiny that had made her Sailor Moon, princess of the Moon Kingdom, couldn't have deliberately caused her best friend's romance to end and set her best friend up with her boyfriend? She found this very hard to believe.  
"How can you be certain?"  
"No-one can be certain except destiny herself, but it seems like a damn good theory to me. For a start, there is no way your Darien would ever go on a date with another woman at his own will. He loves you too much to do that, and there is no way he would ever break your heart in such a way, not unless he cared more for your safety like that whole bad dream thing six years ago. Then there's Chad. He may have been a down-and-out loser, but he loved Raye and Raye loved him. To tell you the truth, I envied their relationship, and I wished I had a guy that would care for me as much as Chad cared for her. Somehow, I don't think a personality clash would be responsible for their break-up, not when they had been living under the same roof for five years, and definately not when he was her shoulder to cry on when Grandpa Hino died." She paused briefly to reflect upon what she had just said. "If you can give me a better theory than that then I will gladly listen."

Sailor Moon found herself lost for words. She had just been hit by a very interesting point of view, and as she absorbed what had been said. Every unfortunate event which had happened to Raye had only served the purpose of awakening Queen Serenity. This seemed so preposterous, yet Venus' reasons seemed undeniable. As Venus walked away Sailor Moon just stood there looking down at the floor, the impact of what she had just heard freezing her to the spot.

* * *

_Int. "The War Room", Negaverse command centre - 8th November 2002, 11:30 pm._

That night almost everyone at the command centre for the Dark Kingdom had been entirely focused on the events at T*A school. News had been filtering through to the command centre throughout the evening, and for the past hour it had been Prince Diamond's job to find piece together all the reports. Malachite had managed to struggle his way to the medical room to have his scorching, blistered burns tended to. Raye, however, was in her quarters winding down in a hot bath, relaxing after a good night's work. She had acted perfectly on her mission, and thus she rewarded herself, yet she couldn't help but wonder how exactly Malachite could have been caught and severely harmed by the Mars Knight.

In the War Room the high command of Beryl and Wiseman waited patiently for the final report of the mission. Slowly jotting notes down for a possible battle plan for the final assault, Beryl remained calm and adament. Wiseman's shadowed figure just glanced at the Queen, determined to figure exactly what she was thinking. The silence was strangely calm despite the situation, this report would mean the difference between whether or not the final assault would go ahead.

"Right. Done." The crystal Prince neatened the files on his desk before swiftly sealing them up in a fairly thin brown envelope and marching out of his office. Time wasn't of the esscence, but still he marched at a brisk pace through the dark, winding corridoors of the command centre. His face remained emotionless as he passed his colleagues by, all seemingly anxious about the success of the mission. As the giant mahogany doors leading into the vast, dank darkeness that was the war room towered above him, he brushed his sleeves and turned the handle, the brown envelope under his left arm.

"Your Majesty, my Lord," said Diamond in a monotonous voice as he stood to attention in the entrance. "I bring you the interim report for Operation Starry Night."  
"Let's see it." Diamond swiftly paced towards Wiseman and handed him the brown envelope. Wiseman carefully tore it open and slid out the dossiers inside, sliding one copy over to Queen Beryl opposite.  
"These are the confirmed statistics for tonight's operation, and the current plan of action advised taking into account tonight's actions." As Queen Beryl browsed through the first few pages a large smile emerged on her usually stone-cold serious face.  
"So tonight's operation was a success?"  
"Yes, and a fairly substantial one at that. We obtained less energy than anticipated, but the difference is negligable. As of now we have enough energy stored to push forward with the final assault once Professor Tomoe has converted it."  
"And what about the status of the two operatives?" An uneasy look began to appear on Diamond's face.  
"Miss Hino worked to beyond expectation, providing a perfect destraction to the audience." He paused for a few moments. "She managed to escape from the Sailor Senshi, however Malachite was not so fortunate. According to him he originally held the Mars Knight at gunpoint, however, a surprise attack from Sailor Venus knocked him off guard and made him the victim of an attack by the Mars Knight. He is currently in the medical room being treated for serious burns to his legs and torso."

The smile had begun to fade from Queen Beryl's face. Her only remaining General had been badly injured, not only that, but he had also failed to take advantage of an opportunity to win the war. Deep inside she felt bitterly disappointed.  
"So when can we expect to launch the final assault?"  
"At the earliest, we can launch the assault on December 22nd. However, we may be able to catch them off guard if we delay our attacks by three days to coincide with the Christmas holiday." There was a silence for a few moments as the two leaders carefully thought about the prospect.  
"That may be a better idea. Thank you for your suggestion." replied Wiseman. "You may now leave." The crystal prince quickly turned around and marched out of the room, leaving Beryl and Wiseman to discuss this action.  
"So what about the girl?" asked Queen Beryl. "Shall we execute her now?"  
"No. She may still be able to tear the Sailor senshi apart. She's still a very close friend of Sailor Moon and the Mars Knight. We will have the advantage if we keep her."

* * *

_Int. Moon Kingdom Central, Tokyo Branch - 9th November 2002, 10:25 am._

"I honestly do not know what happened to you all last night, but you seriously messed up." Luna was completely fuming with the performance of the Scouts at the concert the previous night. She had heard every single story, and she was finding it hard to believe that the Dark Kingdom had claimed a decisive victory.

"Three hundred people in hosital after falling unconscious. Very good job everyone, it's a worldwide headline! Then there's the Mars Knight."  
"Here we go..." Mark thought to himself as he took a very deep breath, ready for whatever Luna was about to say.  
"Why did you have to put yourself in so much unnecessary danger? You could have died!"  
"With all due respect, I saw it as an opportunity to try and bring Raye back to our side. She was fleeing, so I chased after her."  
"And so you followed her into a trap." Mark paused to find his words.  
"I did. Had I known I would have let her go without going after her." There was an eery silence for a few moments as Luna paced around.

"Mark, you really musn't dive head-first into these situations. I've already said this before - if you die, we say goodbye to a very good opportunity. Serena might be able to do it herself, but you're our best bet at the moment." Luna slowly turned her head towards Mina, who looked very nervous. "As for you Mina, I'm not sure whether to commend you or crucify you. You saved Mark's life, but you shouldn't have been out there in the first place."  
"I was needed, especially when the Scouts are in short supply."  
"You could have suffered severe brain damage had you took another blow to the head. The one thing this place doesn't have is a ward for Senshi with brain damage!" Mina jumped back at Luna's rantings.

"Luna, please! Calm down a little! She just wanted to be there to help her friends out!" Serena was trying her best to stop Luna from being completely overcome by stress.  
"I'm sorry Serena, but this is possibly one of THE worst situations we've ever faced in our modern history. This is one of the very few times we've had a major failure in a mission, and with all the energy the Dark Kingdom has collected, we could be facing the final assault at any time. That is how serious tonight's outcome is."

The room fell silent as the situation sunk in. The final countdown was now on. Not only had another chance to relaim Raye passed them by, probably their final chance to stop the Dark Kingdom in their tracks had gone too. Silence soon turned to anxiety as Darien spoke out.  
"What about your hacking, Mark? Have you managed to get into their systems again?" Mark solemnly turned his head to face Darien, his expression instantly answering the question.  
"Yes, but they've tightened their security significantly. They've password-protected every folder, and each folder has a different password. So far I've only been able to look at the root directory, and there's no information for us there. I don't want to go and try guessing anything otherwise they'll pick it up and I'm back to square one." Again, silence filled the air before Mark directed his attention to Luna.

"If it's any bonus, I'd say they put us in an almost impossible situation last night. Firstly, we didn't have any idea as to what was going on apart from there being a likely Dark Kingdom attack. Secondly, with an audience of three hundred people watching carefully, there was no opportunity for us to transform until they had lost consciousness. Thirdly, myself, Lita and Michelle couldn't transform until it was too late because the musicians in the orchestra were strangely unaffected, so we had to keep playing. Finally, I think Professor Tomoe's been thinking very carefully about his technology. When I scanned for the locations of the drainers it turned out that the Dark Kingdom were taking energy by proxy. There was no way of getting the energy back because the drainers weren't storing it. We were outsmarted good and proper."

* * *

_Int. 149 Outland Road, Plymouth - 9th November 2002, 9:50 pm GMT._

It was saturday night, and that weekend Ben and Anna travelled to Plymouth to talk to Jay in person about the trip to Tokyo in December, as well as getting ready to have a night out.  
"Well, as I said, avoid Union Street like the plague. If you go down that way you'll either end up in the nick or in the A and E at Derriford Hospital."  
"So where can we go then?" Anna seemed very eager for a night out on the town.  
"Well, there's a couple of good places on Armada Way. We could go there."  
"Yeah, sounds good. I'm just gonna check the lottery numbers before we go." Anna and Jay looked in Ben's direction as he disppeared into the living room.  
"You actually play that? Don't you think it's just a waste of money? You've never won anything on there before." Ben simply smiled at Anna's questioning as he turned on the tv and loaded up the teletext.  
"Hey, there's a first time for everything. Plus not everyone has a dad who's a successful businessman." Anna simply shook her head at Ben's comments.  
"Just remember it's that successful businessman dad who's sending us to Tokyo -"

"I don't believe it! Anna, could you check this?"  
"What is it now?" Ben handed Anna the pink ticket.  
"Five numbers! Seven, fourteen, seventeen, twenty-nine, forty-five!" A smile came across Anna's face as she read the ticket.  
"Calm down, you have to get six to become a millionaire." Ben snatched the ticket back from Anna, a huge smile on his face.  
"Yeah, but five numbers gets you about three thousand quid! If that's right, all nine of us can go to Tokyo!" At this point Jay had entered the room to see what the commotion was about. As he came into the room he paused as Anna and Ben jumped around the room, arms around each other.

"Hey, hey, what's up here?"  
"Ah nothing. We're only gonna bring the other five with us to Tokyo!" Jay looked very confused at the whole situation.  
"What?"  
"I've just won three grand on the lottery! I can send everyone to Tokyo now!" The same smile came across Jay's face.  
"I don't believe you!" Ben swiftly handed Jay the ticket.  
"Read 'em and weap, Jay!" Jay carefully eyed over the small pink piece of paper and the television screen, taking extra care when comparing.  
"You sneaky bugger!" Jay had now burst out into laughter of joy.

"Right, first thing tomorrow I'm calling the prize line and everyone else." said Ben as Jay carefully placed the ticket under a bookend. "First, let's P-A-R-T-Y!"

* * *

**_End of Chapter 22._**


	23. The Final Countdown

_Disclaimer: Naoko Takeuchi owns the Scouts while I created the Knights._

**Chapter XXIII: The Final Countdown.**

_Int. Kino Residence, Juuban, Tokyo - 5th December 2002, 5:30 pm_

It had been nearly a month since the concert which had proved such a major embarassement for the senshi, a month in which they could reflect and prepare for the horrors that may face them. However, right now those worries were temporarily hidden as it was time to party. At her apartment Lita was celebrating her 21st birthday with her friends. So far Hotaru, Michelle and Amara had arrived, Amara wanting to arrive before the snowstorm outside took a turn for the worse.

"Well, I just hope it doesn't last. We've all got homes to go to later, so we don't need it to make the roads slippy."  
"Hey, it's the first time it's snowed this winter." said Michelle with a smile on her face. "We could always go outside and have a snow fight later"  
"Maybe." chuckled Amara as she smirked.  
"Anyway, not long to go until Christmas, eh?"

"And not long until the big day either. I hope you've both got something to wear." said Lita as she re-entered the room, wearing her favourite long, pea-green dress, matching high-heels and a silver watch that Amara and Michelle had given her as a present.  
"How could we forget? Michelle's already put a sign in huge letters on the wardrobe." Michelle's smile turned mischevous. "I'm looking forward to the day itself, I'm just not looking forward to wearing a dress all day. I hate those things."  
"Aww, come on Amara, surely it can't be that bad." replied Lita joyfully. "I mean, you may be all tomboyish, but you're still a woman at heart, right?"  
"Nah. I'm just a masculine personality in a feminine body. I like my body the way it is though, it's just the things I'm _supposed_ to wear." Lita slowly sat down on the sofa next to the couple, stretching her legs in relief as she leant back.

"Hey, it's just for a day. Just think of Amy, it's her special day after all."  
"Yeah, you're right. I'm not changing the hairstyle though. It seems to attract the ladies." Amara jolted as she received a sharp nudge from Michelle. "What? It's true. I mean, even Lita fancied me for a time." Lita glared at Amara, unimpressed by her comments.  
"That was before I discovered you were a woman. I was fuming when the others left it until the last minute to tell me that." Amara began to chuckle as Lita seemed more unimpressed.  
"But what would you have done if they hadn't have told you?"  
"I know where this is heading Amara. I'm not lesbian, I'm not bi-sexual, I'm straight." Amara leant somewhat closer to Lita, who began to feel extremely uneasy.  
"Hey, you can't knock it until you've tried it." Michelle firmly placed her hand on Amara's shoulder, her face green with envy.

"Enough's enough Amara, you're frightening the poor girl." Amara instantly leant back and turned to Michelle, a huge smile on her face.  
"Hey, it's just a bit of fun." chuckled Amara. "I didn't mean any of that, although it would be nice..."  
"Just remember you're with me. I'd kill you if I ever caught you shagging someone else."  
"Okay, okay, I get the picture." The sound of the doorbell seemed like a godsend at that moment, with Lita feeling increadibly uncomfortable. She swiftly stood up and neatened out her dress before opening the front door.

"Happy birthday." Wrapped up in plenty of warm thermal clothing, Mark brushed the flakes of snow from his black coat and royal blue woolen Everton hat.  
"Mark, what a surprise!" Lita actually sounded pleased at the appearence of Mark, something he wasn't accustomed to. "Do come in, you must be cold."  
"Thanks. It's been a long time since I've seen weather like this." said Mark, removing his gloves and hat and stuffing them into a pocket in his coat.  
"Oh, this is just the norm for this time of year. It's the fallout from the weather on the mountain range. It's quite calm considering."  
"Ah. I just hope it doesn't get any worse though. I'm walking home in this tonight." Mark removed his coat to reveal his usual smart black suit and blue tie. As Lita began to lead him into the living room he reached into the breast pocket of his jacket and pulled out a flat, emerald green jewelery case. "I believe this is for you."

She quickly turned around to find Mark, the jewelery case in his hands held out towards her. She slowly took the case from his hands and opened it up.  
"Oh my god..." Inside lay a silver necklace. However, what was most notable about this neclace was the pendant on the end, the symbol of Jupiter punctually encrusted with emeralds.  
"I was just browsing around the shopping centre when I saw that and thought of you." Lita just looked at the necklace in wide-eyed amazement as Mark smiled.  
"Geeze... Now I feel guilty for only getting you a CD..."  
"Hey, don't worry about it. It's a pretty good band. I've been listening to it a lot too. Anyway, it didn't really cost that much either. They had seventy-five percent off on a ton of stuff, and that was one of them. It only cost me two and a half thousand Yen."

"It doesn't matter. Thank you so much!" Lita snapped out of her gaze and hugged Mark, leaving Amara and Michelle to wonder just why they were getting along so well.  
"No problem. Just remember it's Christmas soon."  
"And a wedding too." called Amara from the sofa.  
"Heh. That's another thing." chuckled Mark. "I've still gotta get my christmas presents, my wedding present, and a suit for the wedding."  
"Don't worry about the suit. Just see if you can borrow a tux from Darien. Surely he can't fight every battle in the same tuxedo." giggled Lita as Mark, Michelle and Amara all sighed.

* * *

_Int. Recovery ward, Negaverse command centre - 5th December 2002, 6:15 pm._

All around the base everyone only had one thing in mind, the Tokyo assault later in the month. Every single able person was assigned to preparing for the assault, from the high command of Beryl, Wiseman and Professor Tomoe to the helpers drafted in by the American branch.

However, that evening Prince Diamond had managed to find the time to visit the recovery ward and his fellow general Malachite. As he entered the room he noticed that Malachite was standing up and slowly pacing around in his black shirt and shorts.  
"Well well, I see you're back on your feet again." Malachite seemed happy at Diamonds comments, although as Diamond looked down an uneasy expression came across his face. Malachite's legs were very red and fairly blistered. Even though some of the skin had started to return to normal, Diamond was very surprised that he was stable on his feet again after less than a month, especially after receiving so severe burns.

"Well, I'm glad of it. It's been terrible laying in bed all day. I mean, I've only just become confident in my walking today."  
"Well, too bad you're not going to be there for the final assault." Malachite instantly glared at Diamond with hidden rage.  
"Who said I wasn't gonna be there? The odds are stacked in our favour. We've only got seven senshi, the Mars Knight and Tuxedo Mask to deal with, and we've got three leaders as well as ourselves and Raye." Malachite promptly stopped and turned around to face Diamond. "By the way, how is Raye anyway?"  
"Just her usual self. She's enjoying it here. I personally can't see how she's going to fit in with the plans once this is over though." Malachite froze, his silence filling the air with anxiety.  
"What... do you mean by... '_can't see how she's going to fit in with the plans'_?"  
"The plans for Dark Tokyo. Beryl and Wiseman have joint leadership, we're the two key ministers and she isn't mentioned whatsoever." Malachite sat back down on his bed and held his head in his hands. "Anyway, why are you so concerned about her?"

"Oh, it's nothing."  
"No, it is something. Something about her, isn't it?" Malachite became overcome by his nervousness as Diamond came ever closer to discovering his true feelings for Raye.  
"Look, believe me, it's nothing." A large smile came across Diamond's face as he clicked.  
"Heh. What else could it be. You love her." Diamond stepped back and chuckled as Malachite removed one hand from his forehead and clenched it as tight as he could. "Yep, that says it all. You love her."  
"Okay, I admit it. Just DO NOT tell anyone else, alright? Love isn't a word in Beryl's or Wiseman's vocabulary. The only high commander that knows love is Tomoe, the only reason why he turned evil the first time was to try and exorcise that demon Mistress Nine from his daughter." The silence returned as Malachite looked Diamond straight in the eyes.

"Promise me you won't betray me." Diamond instantly turned solemn and serious as he tried to contemplate his situation. On the one hand he had the happiness of one of his friends and colleagues, but on the other it could result in death for himself by keeping this from the high command, especially if they were to order Raye's execution once the battle was over. He closed his eyes, the two options causing a raging battle in his mind.  
"Okay, I'll keep it to myself, although I can't guarantee it if they decide to execute her. I'll want something in return should everything go to plan though." A sigh of relief escaped from Malachite's lungs as a broad smile emerged.  
"Name it and I'll do it."  
"I've got nothing in mind right now except the assault. I'll let you know in due time."

* * *

_Int. Kino Residence, Juuban, Tokyo - 5th December 2002, 7:30 pm_

It was now half seven and the party at Lita's apartment was in full swing, as was the snowstorm outside.All the guests had now arrived, Mina, Serena, Darien, Hotaru, Amara, Michelle, Mark and her boyfriend Ken. At the night wore on there was only one real topic of conversation amongst the guests, Amy's wedding.

"I'm telling you, they make the perfect couple! When they got back together after those four years of not knowing where Greg was, you could just see the look of sheer joy on Amy's face! Her eyes were like water fountains! I swear I've never seen her cry so much before!" Mina and Serena nodded in agreement as Lita talked about the couple.  
"I know. I felt extremely sorry for Amy when Greg couldn't be saved. I just felt continually guilty for her whenever I saw any of the other scouts with a boyfriend, you, Lita, with Ken, Mina when she two-timed in high school..." Mina glared back at Serena. "and all that time Amy went without."

"Still," continued Mina "even after we were all revived by the Silver Crystal, Greg included, it still beats me how they could not bump into each other even once for four years. Still at least they got back together. I don't think it's any surprise that they first saw each other again outside the library though..." Again, the group nodded in unison.  
"She said she's gonna keep us waiting to see the wedding dress. They're doing a practice run on the morning of the twenty-first, so we're gonna have to wait until then."  
"I really can't wait! She's just gonna look so sweet!" giggled Mina as the others smiled.

"Question is, who's next?" enquired Lita, rubbing her chin.  
"Well, if the government have a sudden change of heart and allow gay marriages, I'd say Amara and Michelle." replied Mina ever-so-cheerfully. "But somehow I don't think that's going to happen, so I reckon you're next Serena."  
"Really?" Serena sounded very surprised. "What makes you think that?"  
"For one thing, the big freeze is nearly three years overdue. It was supposed to arrive on millenium eve, but there's been nothing. Secondly, there's Rini. She's due on your 24th birthday, so you must marry within the next two to two-and-a-half years. Thirdly, I'm very surprised he hasn't already proposed." Serena just nodded, wondering if she was ready to wed Darien.  
"Well, come to think of it I am ready to marry. Perhaps Darien's just biding his time, waiting for the right moment." Mina and Lita nodded again to stop Serena from questioning herself further. "Well, after me then, who else is gonna tie the knot?" The girls paused for thought for several moments as they tried to think just who could wed after Serena.

"Well, I'm not sure about that one." replied Lita. "Ken's sweet and all that, but I'm still not ready to marry him. Mark and Raye's relationship is on hold for obvious reasons, Hotaru's only sixteen and Mina hasn't got boyfriend."  
"Well, I'm sure I left my heart in England. I may be Japanese, but I haven't been able to find anyone in Tokyo who just makes my heart skip a beat. I don't know why, but I just prefer English men."  
"Just don't go for the Englishman over there." said Serena, glancing in Mark's direction. "He's reserved."  
"I know that. Anyway, I've seen a picture of his best friend, the Mercury Knight. Man he is hot!" exclaimed Mina to a chorus of sighs from the other ladies.

* * *

_Int. Laboratory 1, Negaverse Command Central - 5th December 2002, 8:10 pm_

"Just add a little liquid nitrogen here..." Deep inside the main laboratory at the Dark Kingdom's base, Professor Tomoe was at work, seemingly transferring the energy captured from the concert into dark energy. However, as he dropped a drop of a cloudy solution onto a piece of earth in a petri dish crystals of ice shot out from the droplet and completely transformed the piece of soil into a frozen tundra.  
"Experiment number sixty-five. Initial observations, the sample has completely frozen, with a layer of ice on top. Temperature, minus seventy degrees celsius." The professor took out what appeared to be some sort of measuring equipment and measured the thickness of the ice. "Ice layer thickness, twenty-two millimeters. Conclusion, the best result so far, although the temperature is still possibly too cold." The professor turned off the recorder in his shirt pocket and cleared away his equipment, placing the formula and petri dish in a nearby freezer.

However, it appeared that he was not too keen on checking the processes at that moment, there were other issues on his mind, issues of dominancy, issues of betrayal, issues of supremicy. Swiftly he opened his bottom drawer and took out a set of darts, stood up and flipped the notice board on the wall of the red-lit room to reveal an image of Queen Beryl and Wiseman, an image full of holes. He sat back down on his swivel-chair seat as he began to throw the darts at the picture, one by one.

"Bulls-eye!" He exclaimed as a dart landed square on the forehead of the Queen. Throwing the remaining darts, he turned around on the chair and paddled himself to the noteboard, removing the darts from the picture, but taking care to slowly remove the dart lodged in Beryl's forehead.  
"Oh deary me, Beryl, someone's about to rain on your parade. Someone working side-by-side with you. Heheheh!" Kicking his seat back to his desk, Tomoe stood up and returned the notice board back to return the notice board to its original side.

"_'Cause the Queen Mother's gonna have the plug pulled!_" he sang as he booted up his laptop. He was the one in charge of regenerating Metallia, and even though she was now at forty-percent strength, she was still fairly weak. Tomoe knew all too well that as well as the bringing her the power of life, he could also end her life all too easily as long as she remained in the regeneration tank. The majority of the energy captured at the concert was to be used with regenerating Metallia's spirit. However, Tomoe was starting to get other ideas.

"Right... Let's see how the converters are doing..." said Tomoe to himself as he called up the drainer control panel. "Three terrajoules... So that's sixty percent..." Manically he tapped the buttons on his calculator. "Let's move two terrajoules over to my own energy container to my lab anonymously..." he clicked the button as he saw a red level drop by two thirdsand a green one rise from nothing. "And offset the sensors..." Typing furiously in a new window he managed to reset the sensors, bringing the red level up to what it was before. "And voilá!"

* * *

_Int. Kino Residence, Juuban, Tokyo - 5th December 2002, 9:00 pm_

The snowstorm had died out now, but all around was a vast blanket of white, bar the roads which had turned dark brown due to the road gritters. Inside the apartmant everyone was dancing, everyone except Mark and Amara who were discussing Formula One racing.

"Well, it's good to see they've changed things, but even after these early few races I still think Schuhmacher's gonna win the title."  
"I know" replied Amara enthusastically. "There's no denying the man. He is simply the world's greatest, just like Muhammed Ali was for boxing and Pele was for soccer."  
"Yeah. The only problem with the man is that he makes the season a bit too predictable. They only changed the rules because he broke every single record last year."  
"True." The pair seemed inseperable from their conversation.

"Well, I'm not that much of a driver myself. I'll have to resit my driving test when I've saved up for a car. I don't think that a British driving license is a legal document for those claiming citizenship in Japan."  
"Well, as far as I know a driving license for any country is universal as long as you know the highway code for that country. You'd better check with the driving agency in central Tokyo to be safe." As the background music changed to a different track Mark found himself dragged up by his arm and spun into the arms of Mina.

"Well, wanna dance?" As a slow ballad beat swayed from the stereo, Mark saw hardly any other options.  
"Go on then. Just this one." he replied as he put his arms around Mina's back. As they stepped in time to the beat Mina closed her eyes and smiled as if she was in a dream. Mark just smiled. To him this was just a harmless dance with another young lady.  
"Hey, you're a pretty good dancer Mina." Mina still kept her eyes closed but blushed.  
"You're pretty good yourself Mark." she whispered back in his ear.  
"Well, it's been a while since I danced. The last time was on one of those Dance Dance Revolution manchines before I left England, and I was terrible." ha chuckled as Mina rested her head on his shoulder, something greeted bny a look of alarm from Serena.  
"Oh I know those things. You should see Serena on it. She's very good. It's all that time and money she's spent at the arcade over the years."  
"I see."

As the song continued to play Mina continued to hold tightly to Mark, not wanting to let go of him. However, as the song approached its climax she slowly lifted her head from his shoulder and moved closer to his lips, until the two eventually met. Mark instantly opened his eyes and let go of Mina as she moved back from him, her eyes wide open too.  
"Mina..."  
"Oh my god. I'm sorry Mark." cried Mina as Mark looked around, noticing the stark, disbelieving look on Serena's face.  
"Er, excuse me a moment, I need to get some fresh air." said Mark, trying to maintain his self-awareness. Quickly he amde his way tothe other side of the living room and made his way onto the balcony, closing the door behind him and leaving the others to guess what was going on. Mina knew she had done something terrible though and instantly followed him.

"Mark, I don't know why I did that, but I just did." Mark turned around to face the seemingly worried Venus senshi.  
"No, no, I'm sorry."  
"What have you got to apologise for? I'm the one in the wrong here. You belong to Raye. I shouldn't have done that." Mark simply smiled.  
"Hey, it was just one harmless kiss. It wasn't as if it was a full-on snog." Mina smiled back as Mark rubbed his arms to stay warm.  
"Heh. It's probably just all that Sake going to my head."  
"Yeah, probably. What was that for anyway? Was it just a spare-of-the-moment thing or what?" Mina looked down to the floor as she continued to blush.  
"I dunno, it probably was, but I've always had a liking for English guys, so since you were the first one I've ever danced with, I decided to see if they were good kissers." Mark chuckled at Mina's philosophy.  
"And was I?" Mina giggled as she looked back up at him. "Well, I'm just wodering, that's all."  
"Well, I didn't get long, but you were alright, yeah." It was now Mark's turn to blush, whether it was the crisp cold air or Mina's comments, however, could not be determined.

"Ah well, it's pretty cold out here. Wanna go back inside?"  
"Yeah, go on then. This dress doesn't keep me very warm." Mark opened the door as Mina stepped throughback into the warmth. However, Mark couldn't help but feel it would be slightly harder to keep Raye's competition away from him in her absence.

* * *

**_End of chapter 23._**


	24. Homecoming

_Author's Notes/Disclaimer: Whoo... Almost there... Naoko Takeuchi created the Sailor Scouts while I created the Knights. I don't own FIFA or the FIFA world cup either, although it would be nice... And I'm starting to get '24' withdrawal symptoms now that the second series has ended. :( That show is just so brilliant!_

**Chapter XXIV: Homecoming.**

_Int. Berlin International Airport, terminal 2 check-in hall - 19th December 2002, 3:10 pm CET_

Christmas was coming, as was all too apparant by the _Weinachten_ decorations covering the check-in hall from the floor to the roof, the magnificent green christmas tree standing tall in the centre of the hall symbolising the German love of the holiday season. The masses of tourists and Germans alike patiently waiting in line also suggested that the Christmas rush was well in swing. Amongst that queue were the eight Knights from England, waiting to check in for Flight JL-192, their plane to Tokyo and a reunion with Mark.

"Has everyone got all their bags and passports?" asked Anna to the rest of the group behind her, who started checking everything they had. "And remember you can't have any sharp objects on you, not after September 11th."  
"How could we forget Anna?" called Lucy from near the back. "There's a big sign in fifteen languages outside the terminal saying that."  
"Hey, just double-checking. We need to get to Tokyo ASAP, so the last thing we need is one of us getting held back."  
"So how long have we got until we check in?" called Andrew, the Uranus Knight. He was of about medium height with shoulder length blonde hair tied into a pony tail and spoke with a fairly strong Birmingham accent.

"Not long Andy. There's about ten people in front of us." As Ben peered to the front of the queue a look of sheer surprise invaded his face, accompanied by an ear-to-ear grin.  
"Heh. Surely it can't be her." He leant out further to try and get a good view of the couple at the check-in counter.  
"Couldn't be who?" enquired a tall young woman standing next to him, her long ginger hair tied into a single platted ponytail.  
"Emma, take a look at the couple at the front of out queue, the blue haired woman at the desk with the taller guy in the white shirt." Emma leant out towards Ben, trying to catch a glimpse of the couple. "Do ya reckon it looks like the Princess of Mercury?"  
"I can't help you there. I'm Neptune, remember? Mercury's supposed to be _your_ planet." Ben frowned.

"Hey, I'm just asking. If you had to give a decision, would you say that is the Princess of Mercury?" Again Emma looked long and hard at the figure at the front walking away hand in hand with her partner.  
"Well, if I was forced to choose, I'd say it was. I'm not certain though." The frown on Ben's face instantly changed back into a smile. If this was true, this would be the first time he would have met the reincarnation of his princess, a woman he had served so loyaly as chief advisor in his past life. He wondered if this was coincidence, or whether she was being called back to Tokyo to help the other Sailor Senshi defend against the final assault by the Dark Kingdom.  
"Wow. I don't believe it! If it is her..." Ben had frozen to the spot. As the line moved forward Emma instantly noticed this and grabbed hold of him, dragging him down the line.

* * *

Further down the line, hand in hand with her partner, was the woman that Ben had noticed, her long, slim, ocean-blue dress glistening from the crisp, mid-winter sunlight pouring through the roof of the check-in hall. Her partner was slightly taller than her with mid-length brown hair and equally autumnal eyes. His attire was seemingly almost as smart as hir partner, with a long-sleeve white shirt, top button open, hanging over a comfortable pair of jet black trousers. As the couple made the long walk down to the departure lounge, leaving the masses of people waiting patiently in line behind them, the happily talked away.

"Well, this is it Greg." said the blue haired woman joyfully. "This is the last time I'll be in Berlin as Amy Mizuno."  
"Yeah. Just think, this time next wednesday we'll be Mr. and Mrs. Urawa." replied her partner in an equally joyous tone.  
"Oh it's just so exciting!" squealed Amy, overcome by her happiness. "Oh my, I'm starting to sound like Serena now." Greg giggled at the prospect as Ami blushed.  
"Hey, don't worry. You're still the Amy I'm always known, and you always will be. So is everything sorted with Serena and Darien?"  
"Yeah, we'll be staying there for most of the time. I'm sleeping at my mother's apartment with Mina, Serena and Lita on christmas eve though so I can get ready for the big day." Greg seemed slightly confused as the couple reached the large departure lounge and sat down.

"Isn't Raye going to be with youas well? She was one of your best friends." Amy sighed before looking Greg straight in the eyes.  
"There's something I haven't told you, something that I thought would have resolved before today." Greg began to look worried, a shocked expression slowly creeping onto his face.  
"What's that?"  
"There's been a Dark Kingdom revival in Tokyo as well." Greg took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "It turns out that they managed to capture Raye over two months ago and brainwash her. She's been at the forefront of most Dark Kingom attacks since."  
"So this means that you might have to be Sailor Mercury in Tokyo too?" A saddened look spread across Amy's face as Greg's expression faded into one of extreme anxiety.

"Well, I might have to, although I hope not. I want this to be a break from all the thing that have been happening here just like you do. I have to answer to my duty if there is an attack though Greg."  
"Hey, it's okay Amy. I'm just scared I might lose you, especially when we're so close to marrying." he replied, placing a comforting arm around Amy's shoulders.  
"Greg, you won't lose me. Don't worry yourself, I know how to look after myself." She slowly turned her head to look at him, an alluring smile on her face, while teasingly wrapping her arm around his waist. "And I defianately know how to look after you."

* * *

_Int. Apartment 241, Hikawa View Apartments - December 20th 2002, 2:10am Japanese time._

"RAYE!!!"

The thunderous yet devastated scream of Mark echoed in his room. It pitch black bar the red digital alarm clock at his bedside, the darkness soon to be chased away by the pure glow of his bedside lamp. Mark was sitting straight up, gasping for breath, his torso suffering from a monsoon of sweat.  
"Ten past two? Dammit!" He exclaimed, seemingly fighting back tears. Burying his head in his hands, Mark was clearly in a state of shock.  
"Please tell me that IS NOT a pre-vision! Please tell me!" he yelled, trying to grab a pen and notepad from his bedside drawer, his quivering hands making the basic task an almost impossible affair. He frantically scribbled down the details, eager to get every single detail down before he lost his memory, his account of this horrendous nightmare.

His handwriting was barely elligable, his face projecting excruciating pain while he waged war against his shattered nerves as the first details became known.  
_"Final battle. Snow. Tokyo, central park? Beryl, Malachite, Diamond + Wiseman." _Once again he breathed in with agony. _"Sailor Mars at front. Mars Fire at Jupiter + Venus. Smashed down by Uranus + Neptune, hit again by Jupiter. Very weak." _Still he scribbled furiously, the sheer look of determination in his eyes broadcasting his desire for Raye.

_"I run over to Sailor Mars. She looks me in eyes and seems like she knows me, her eyes starry and watery. She lifts hand up to embrace me. I was about to kiss her. 'Raye... It's Mark... Just think back...'" _This was becoming too much. His pen slipped off the notepad and stabbed the palm of his hand, the sheer force of his frantic scribbles causing the point to inflict a fairly deep wound.

"SHIT!!!" he cried out at the top of his voice, slamming the notepad on the floor and tugging the ballpoint pen from his hand, which had begun to stream blood. Using his other hand to try and slow the bleeding when possible, he quickly made his way to the kitchen to find the first aid kit. However, the ruckus that Mark had caused with his accident had woken up the other flatmates, who were left wondering exactly what was going on.  
"Mark? Is that you?" called Sarah, slowly walking down the hallway towards the living room and the now brightly-lit kitchen.  
"Hey Sarah, what's up?" Rubbing his eyes, Chad emerged from his room to investigate the commotion for himself.

"I'm not sure. It sounds like something's happened to Mark though." she replied. The opening to the kitchen was now in sight, and as the pair peered through they saw Mark, his left hand under a running tap and his right hand searshing the nearby cupboards for the first aid kit. Immediattely the pair dashed over to his side.  
"Mark! What happened?"  
"I just bloody stabbed my hand with a Biro!" he hissed, becoming increasingly frustrated with his inability to find the first aid kit. Seeing his plight Chad immediately opened the cupboard above the cooker and took down the green box. Sarah just took a quick glance at his hand before pulling out two chairs.

"Right... Let's have a look." Mark slowly moved his hand from under the tap and sat down on the chair as Sarah examined the hand. It was unclear exactly how deep the small hole was, but it was causing a fair bit of bleeding. She opened the first aid kit and took out a cotton wool pad, bandaging, tape and antiseptic cream, while Mark tried to look away from his wound as he placed his hand on the table.  
"How could a ball point pen cause a wound so deep?" asked Chad, dressed in a white t-shirt and grey boxers, leaning against the wall. "It's the first time I've known a ball point pen to cause a deep wound like that."  
"Where is it anyway?" asked Sarah, applying the cream to the wound as Mark gasped in sharp agony.  
"It's probably somewhere in my room. Just bin the bastard for all I care." Shrugging his shoulder, Chad left to find the culprit pen in Mark's room.

As Chad followed the droplet trail of blood back to Mark's room, he could sense that something was not right with Mark at all. How could a person accidently injure himself in such a way with a Biro of all things? He looked in, and sure enough on the floor was the culprit, the blood-soaked black ball point pen. Yet there was something else strewn on the floor, a white notepad.

Chad was intreagued. He noticed that the handwriting on the notepad was in Mark's style, but he noticed that it seemed very perculiar. It seemed as if Mark had been panicking as the handwriting was barely eligable compared to Mark's typical standard, while the pressure of the force applied to the paper seemed alarming too, the letters deeply embeded into the paper, suggesting that Mark had been writing furiously. He was curious, curious enough to try and decypher the mangled text.

"My god..." he exclaimed while he tried to figure out exactly what was being explained by the text. It had stated in the final paragraph that Raye, the very Raye he used to go out with so many years ago, was the legendary super-heroine Sailor Mars. Not only that, but Mark was somehow involved too. In any other circumstances he may have just passed it off as some wild fantasy of the Sailor Scouts that Mark was dreaming about. However, given the way in which it was written and the dispostion that Mark was in, he doubted that any such dream about the Sailor Scouts could result in such distress. He had to find something, anything that could cast light on this situation.

Slowly Chad opened Mark's bedside drawer. It was fairly organised, a stationary selection, a space wher the notepad was, his mobile phone. However, one thing in particular caught his eye, a crimson red felt-covered box, seemingly a jewelery case of some sorts. He took one last look behind him to see if no-one was coming down the hallway. The coast was clear. With the upmoast care, he opened the jeweler box. His face tured pure white.

"This... this can't be..." Inside the case lay a red ruby pendant. However, this was no ordinary pendant. It seemed to glow with the most amazing aurora, and as he moved it under the bedside lamp he noticed the tiny golden symbol encased within, the symbol of Mars.  
"You've got to be kidding me... There's no possible way..." He turned his attention back to the case itself. Inside the lid, etched in pure gold, was an inscription.

_To ye who shall be the Protector and Server of Justice in the name of Mars:  
With this garment comes the truth behind thy existence,  
The reason why thy were reborn into this lifetime,  
With this garment thy shall become the Mars Knight,  
Protector, Server of Justice and loyal servant to the Princess of Mars,  
Sworn ally and loyal subject of the Kingdom of the Moon,  
Stay true to thy line of duty and thy cause of love and justice,  
And stay true to the protection of all innocents, any time, any place,_

_Thy are the Knight of Mars._

"I don't believe it... He's the Mars Knight... And Raye's Sailor Mars..." To him, this was definately one of those moments when the truth was stranger than fiction. No wonder Mark had been so stressed ever since Raye had dumped him. Mark and Raye were two of a kind. However, that confused him even more over the fact of why Raye dumped Mark in the first place.

"Chad? Could you come here a second? I need you to have a look at this." Immediately he snapped the case shut and placed it back in the drawer before heading back to the kitchen, his head spinning from the shock.  
"I'll be there in a moment. Could you pour me a glass of water or something please? I just get, like, a bit scared when I see blood."

* * *

_Int. Chiba residence, Juuban - December 20th 2003, 12:25 pm._

It was extremely difficult to find one singlemoment for rest in the Chiba household. Darien and Serena were working as hard as they could to make sure everything was perfect, decorating the spare bedroom with various items and setting up the spare beds, checking to food was properly wrapped up and put in the fridge, making sure that Amy's flight had not been delayed and checking the news for any travel delays on the way to the airport. Unusually, everything was clear on the roads, and the happy hosts had completed everything with plenty of time to spare.

"Are you sure there isn't anything else Serena?"   
"Positive. This is going to be the best homecoming Amy will ever receive, and nothing's going to stop me from doing otherwise." Serena seemed typically upbeat throughout, and seemed extremely proud of the work herself and her boyfriend had done to the house. "Anyway, it's her final days as Miss Amy Mizuno, so we might as well try and make them count."  
"By that you mean parties?" smirked Darien, accustomed to the usual stories of wild parties on the Hen Night of brides-to-be.  
"Yeah. It's not her style, but what the hell. We need to show her a good time before she ends her free life!" Darien simply buried his head in his hand, an ear-to-ear smile on his amused face.  
"Hey, as long as you don't give her a hangover for the wedding day. I definately know I'm not out to get Greg plastered." Darien paused as he tried to regain his composure. "Anyway, don't you think it's about time we hit the road?" Before Serena had a chance to reply, the quiet air was brutally invaded by the ringing of the telephone.

"I'll get it." said Serena, briskly making her way to the main hallway. "Tsukino and Chiba."  
"Hi Serena, it's me Mark."  
"Hey Mark." she replied sheepishly. She could instantly tell that something was seriously wrong with him, the quivering voice a giveaway.  
"Is it okay if I talk with you and Darien please? It's pretty urgent." Darien entered the hallway to try and guess who the caller was.  
"I'm not sure. We were just about to leave for the airport."  
"It's about Raye. I've had another pre-vision, only I serously hope that it isn't." To Serena, that could only mean one of two things, a Dark Kingdom victory or the death of Raye, maybe even both.  
"I'll see what I can do." Quickly Serena held her hand too the mouthpiece and turned towards Darien. "He says he's got more information about Raye and he wants to speak with us. What should we do?"

"Well, we've got hardly any time to waste, but he may have key information..." He paused and stood perfectly still as he thought. "How about we pick him up and take him to the airport with us? He can tell us along the way, plus we've got a bit of spare time to pick him up." Serena turned her attention back to the handset.  
"We'll meet you and pick you up from your apartment in fifteen minutes. We really need to get to the airport, but you can tell us while we're there. Is that okay?"  
"Yeah, that's fine by me." He seemed slightly less nervous now, but still she could sense the worry in his voice.  
"Okay, we'll see you in fifteen minutes then."  
"Okay, thanks."

* * *

_Ext. Hikawa View apartments, Cherry Hill - 20th December 2003, 12:40 pm._

Sure enough, Mark patiently waited outside his home, the bitterly cold yet sunny day assisting in his choice of attire - a heavily insulated sports jacket over his usual blue shirt and cream trousers, a wollen blue hat with the crest of Everton Football Club woven in atop his head. Rubbing his hands together for even more warmth, he watched the street for Darien's bright red sports car, taking extra care not to even glance at the steps leading up to the Hikawa shrine, the nightmare of the night before causing him too much grief to even think of Raye.

Saying that, over the past few weeks he had visiting the shrine on a regular basis and had noticed that the posessed Raye was no longer looking after its welfare. He was no priest himself, but early every saturday morning he took the only straw broom from the storage cupboard and swept the floor of the entire temple. This, however, he had kept a secret from both his flatmates and the Senshi. His flatmates wouldn't have approved of it because of _that_ incident in October, while he knew that the other Senshi probably had better things to do on a saturday. Still, none of that mattered at the moment - in the distance he could see the car.

He waved his hand in the air as the car came ever closer, eventually coming to a halt in front of him. The passenger window in front of him instantly lowered to reveal the typically cheerful faces of Darien and Serena.  
"Thanks." said Mark, hoping he hadn't bestowed too much bother on the couple. "I'm hope I'm causing any bother with this."  
"Don't worry, just get in." replied Darien as Mark found a place in the back to sit. "We're sorry we just had to meet you like this. Amy's plane is due in at three, so we're hoping to get there early in case there's bad traffic." Mark smiled too as he took off his hat and unzipped his jacket.  
"Heh. That's gonna bring back a few memories." Mark was becoming slightly nostalgic, images of his first day in Tokyo rushing to his head.

"So what was it you wanted to talk about, Mark?" Mark took a deep breath, and though for a few seconds.  
"I think I'd better not tell you while Darien's driving. It isn't good news, that's all I can say. I'll tell you when we get to the airport." Serena's nerves started to build up. The odds were already stacked against them, and her best friend had now been under Dark Kingdom command for nearly two months. Added to the fact that Mark probably had some very bad news, she felt that this might be the final stand for the Sailor Senshi. Still, with Amy around and someone to fill in for Sailor Mars, at least they stood a small chance. Darien had noticed that the mood had instantly begun to sink, so he turned on the radio, the trio greeted by a random selection of christmas J-Pop songs.

* * *

_Ext. __Tokyo Intenational Airport, terminal 3 visitor lounge- 20th December 2002, 2:40 pm._

It had seemed that Darien's decision to turn on the radio payed off, as the trio seemed upbeat and were having conversations on all sorts of topics, or at least the topics that Mark knew enough vocabulary for. Now, however, they had reached the airport and had found seats in the visitor lounge of terminal 3. Now it was time for Mark to reveal the horrors of his nightmare to Serena and Darien.

"Well, I'd just like to warn you that I am seriously hoping this is not a pre-vision, and that you'll probaly end up very upset by this, so brace yourselves." Mark took a very deep breath to calm his nerves. "It starts with the final battle. It's in the centre of Tokyo, central park I believe, and it's snowing, so keep an eye on the weather forcast over the next couple of weeks. In a nutshell, it's the ten of us, you two, me and the other seven Senshi, including one with blue hair who I think is Mercury-"  
"You mean Amy's involved with this too?" exclaimed Serena.  
"The same Amy that's arriving on this flight?"  
"Yeah, that's her." Serena looked close to freaking out.

"As I was saying, the ten of us versus Beryl, Wiseman, Diamond, Malachite and Mars." Mark took care not to mention the _Sailor_ bit any names in case there happened to be any eavesdroppers. "The battle rages on, and Venus and Jupiter are hit by flame sniper attacks. Uranus and Neptune smash her to the floor while Jupiter comes up for a revenge attacks." Again, Mark paused to try and regain his self-composure. The nightmare was beginning to play with his emotions once more.

"Once the other Senshi are keeping Beryl and company busy, I make my way over to the injured Mars and try to persuade her that she is just being used. It's working, and she's about to kiss me when..." Mark let out an almighty sigh and buried his head in his hand as he tried to stop tears from reaching his eyes. It was a few long, painful momentsbefore he could continue, and in that time Serena and Darien were on the edge of their seats, dreading the suspense.

"Beryl blasts her head cleam off after casting Mercury aside." Silence savaged the air. The worst fears of Serena and Darien were a firm possibility. After a few momets of contemplating how right or wrong Mark could be, she stood up and sat down next to him, putting a quivering yet comforting arm around him.  
"How sure can you be that it is a pre-vision?" Mark was finding it hard to breathe, and so took his jacket off slowly before replying.  
"I'm not sure at all, but my last major vision was the concert, and that was mostly right." Mark and Serena were both fighting back tears, but it was a particular shock for both Darien and Serena as they had never seen Mark this emotional before. It was perfectly understandable though given how close the pair were in the single month that they were going out with each other, and how determined he had been to bring her back since.

Mark was thinking along the same lines. He could not even begin to imagine how Serena, a loyal and true friend to Raye for seven years, could find the strengh to carry on amidst all this uncertainty. To him, Serena was an extremely strong-willed personality, a truely marvellous example of a leader despite the stories he had heard about her in England. In all truth, he was fighting to get Raye back on the side of the Moon Kingdom not just for the sake of his love life, but more importantly to return a wonderful personlity to the ones that care most for her.

_"This is a public announcement." _The call of the P.A. proved to be somewhat of a well-timed escape from Mark's bad news as the trio looked up at the white speakers suspended from the framework. _"Flight JL-192 from Berlin to Tokyo due at fifteen hundred hours has landed fifteen miutes early due to technical problems. Will all visitors and greeters for passengers on that flight please make their way to gate twelve immediately."_

"Well, time to meet the happy couple." said Serena, trying her best to return a smile to her face. Sure enough, the trio slowly made their way back onto their feet and followed the small crowd heading towards the gate, still trying their best to mask their feelings and simply hoping that the mere sight of Amy and Greg would lift their spirits.

* * *

"Welcome to Tokyo guys!" cheered Anna, leading the group down the ocean blue carpet, through to the exit of the plane. The mood amongst the other seven friends was equally optimistic, all extremely eager to see their Mars Senshi friend once again. Anna nodded her head with appreciation at the air hostesses and smiled before stepping onto the bridge leading into the airport. They were now on Japanese soil.  
"Hey Jay, what time is it?" called Jess from near the back, tying her long blonde, almost white, hair into a high ponytail.  
"Erm... I dunno. I don't know how far ahead or behind Japanese time is. "It isn't five to seven in the morning though. It looks like it's five to something in the afternoon." he replied as he gazed out through the creased soft acrylic windows of the bridge.

"So how long is it until we get our bags back?" Andrew had seemed slightly nervous throughout since it was his first time on an aeroplane, but now they had touched down he just wanted to get his bags and meet Mark again.  
"It'll flash up above the carousel. It's usually about twenty minutes though."  
"Thanks Ben." he replied as the vastness of the airport hit them. Above them stood a vast sign in a large number of languages, the english message reading_ "Welcome to Japan - co-host of the 2002 World Cup"_. 

The next few minutes were somewhat of a bore for both sides of the gate. For the eight english friend, Amy and Greg, the luggage was the only thing holding them up. With two hundred and fifty passengers, the fifteen minute wait for the luggage to start arriving was one of mixed boredom and anticipation, all parties trying to ensure that they don't miss their baggage. For Mark, Serena and Darien, the boredom was starting to increase their already large anxiety. However, after what seemed like a lifetime, the bags finally arrived one by one, allowing the english senshi, Amy and Greg to finally get out the airport.

"They're sure taking their time considering they landed early..." said Serena, gazing up at the clock, which now read tweny past three.  
"Hey, just relax Serena." replied Darien, hands behind his head. "It takes a while for the bags to arrive. It took nearly an hour for me to get out of the airport when I first arrived in America."  
"Yeah, it took me about forty-five minutes to get out of here when I first arrived." said Mark, happy to meet the last of the nine Japanese Senshi.  
"Well, you know me. I'm very impatient at ti-"

"Serena! Darien!" The attention of Serena was snatched away from her instantly, the wonderous voice perking up her ears. Quickly she turned around to be greeted by Amy, one of her best and certainly most intelligent friend, sprinting as fast as she could in her ocean blue high heels.  
"Amy!" cried Serena in reply, fighting back tears of sheer and utter joy. She knew she would have been emotional at the reunion, but she never anticipated being this thankful to see her return. Mark and Darien slowly walked towards the great friends, noticing Greg in the distance wheeling along their baggage trolley.  
"Oh it's so good to see you again!" squealed the odango-haired blonde, tightly hugging Ami.  
"You too Serena. I just can't wait to get back to Juuban and meet the others too." while the two women were exchanging their rapturous welcomes, Darien was making his way over to meet Greg. Mark, having only met these two people for the first time, followed Darien to try and get to know the Greg.

"Welcome back Greg. I've mssed you around." said Darien as he high-fived his old friend.  
"Same." chuckled Greg, patting Darien on the back. "Well, it's more than just _coming home for Christmas_ this year."  
"So is everything sorted on that front?"  
"Yeah." replied Greg, taking a small blue box from his right trouser pocket, opening it to reveal two glistening rings. "It really was a pain going through the security gates with these, but at least they were safe."  
"Wow." replied Mark, admiring the two gleaming pure gold rings, hoping he wasn't butting into the conversation.

"Oh, Greg, this is Mark Davison, a friend of mine and Serena's. Mark, this is Greg Urawa, the guy who I told you about a while ago." Instantly the pair bowed, both smiling.  
"Pleased to meet you Greg."  
"No, no, the pleasure's all mine. A friend of Darien's is a friend of mine.  
"So wherebouts in the world do you come from Mark?" asked Greg. Simply enough, Mark didn't look the slightest bit Japanese, so Greg was intreagued to find out where he cme from.  
"I'm from England. I was born in Liverpool, but I moved to Southampton -" Mark briefly glanced behind Greg. In the distance was a large group of people, about seven or eight, he wasn't sure. However, he seemed to recognise three people at the front of the group from what he could tell. "Sorry Greg, could you excuse me for a moment please?"

Darien and Greg looked on in confusion while Mark walked towards the group, picking up pace as he recognised who the group actually were. It had also come to the surprise of the group that Mark was actually at the airport, something they hadn't planned on, but still, the celebrations began.  
"_Turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so!_" sang the group in unison as Mark approached. It was the English senshi.  
"Oh my god... What the hell are all you guys doing here?!" Mark's face was a complete piture. The horrified-yet-ecstatic emotion on his face broadcasting his confused state. Anna spoke to offer an explanation.

"Well, Christmas wasn't going to be the same without you, so we decided to pay you a little holiday visit." Mark was now laughing uncontrollably. He hadn't been this happy in several weeks, maybe even for a month or two. This had almost certainly brightened up his day from the nightmares earlier.  
"What happened to your hand?" asked Ben, while firmly patting Mark's right arm.  
"I got in a fight with a biro this morning and lost."  
"Well you know what they say." replied Jay. "The pen is mightier than the sword." The line received a mixture of groans and laughs as the group crowded around Mark.  
"I still can't believe it! All eight of you are here!"  
"Well," exclaimed Anna. "Half of it's thanks to my father, and the other half's thanks to Ben's luck on the Lotto."  
"Heh. I've got so much to tell you guys!"  
"Save it for when we get to the B and B Mark." said Lucy, looking up at the clock. "We've got to get Ganymede back from the animal depot first, and we've got to find a way of getting all of us there."  
"Well, what are you waiting for? Let's get out there!"

* * *

_**End of Chapter 24**_

_Why does this keep getting longer than I anticipate? I MUST finish this within the next 2-3 chapters! Anyway..._

_Now that the English Senshi have reunited and the Japanese Senshi have been reunited with Amy, how will this affect the outcome of the final battle? When will this battle occur? How will Chad react to Mark now that he knows that Mark is the Mars Knight? And do Mark's visions really mean that Raye is to perish during the final assault? There's only one way to find out..._

__


	25. In My Place

_Author's Notes/Disclaimer: Eheh. ^^; Turns out it wasn't deleted after all. A program must have made my fanfic folder turn into a hidden folder so I couldn't find it._

_I created the Knights while Naoko Takeuchi created all the other Sailor Moon-related characters. And if you're a fan of Radiohead, I apologise in advance for the line in the third paragraph, but I truely dispise them._

**Chapter XXV: In My Place**

_Int. Tokyo Sunrise B&B lounge - December 20th 2002, 5:20 pm._

Two hours had now passed since the eight English Knights were reunited with their ninth friend, and in that time they had made their way back to their accomodation, barely a few blocks away from Mark's own apartment, unpacked and joined Mark in the Bed and Breakfast's lounge for a drink. As the skies began to cloud over, the nine friends and a somewhat drowsy Ganymede, barely awake on Mark's lap, were swapping stories about the past three months.

"Hey, from what I've heard you've had a rollercoaster time here." smirked Anna, a small glass of Gin and Tonic in her right hand.  
"Well you could say that, some of it I don't want to recall though. I'm kinda okay talking about Raye though."  
"Who's Raye?" enquired Jess, arms behind her head as she sat back on the snow white sofa. Mark paused for a few moment, trying to gather his words, before replying, his facial expression one of masked sadness.  
"Raye is," Again he paused to find his words, sighing before continuing. "or was, my girlfriend. I'm sure you all know the current situation with Sailor Mars over here, so everything shoud become clear if I told you that Raye is Sailor Mars." Some of the group seemed shocked. Anna and Lucy, however, remained emotionless. They had known for a while who Raye was, and could probably guess how Mark had been feeling for the past couple of months.

"Wow. Poor you." Steffany seemed the most shocked out of the eight. She was a firm believer in romance, even though she didn't have a boyfriend. To hear something like that was just intensely saddening for her.  
"Well, it's okay now I guess. I think I've learned how to cope without her, but still, myself and the other Senshi just want her safe return at the end of this."  
"So when is this battle going to kick off?" Andrew was the most gung-ho member of the group, but even he seemed extremely anxious about stepping into a Moon Kingdom warzone.  
"I'm not sure. All I know is that it's in the dark, which doesn't help decide what time of day it is because dark energy blocks out daylight, and it's snowing. Apart from that, nothing." The others could instantly see that he was hiding something by the partially heartbroken expression in his eyes, but they dared not to ask in case it was something too sensitive. Jess swiftly changed the topic of conversation before the general mood became as depressing as a Radiohead album.

"Oh, back in Berlin and on the plane Ben reckoned he saw the Princess of Mercury." Mark instantly perked up and glanced in her direction. "Do you know if it was her or not?"  
"Blue hair in a bob? Matching dress and Stilettos?"  
"Yeah, that's the one." Ben leant forward in anticiaption, fingers crossed as if he was watching the lottery numbers come out.  
"That's her. Amy Mizuno," Ben lept up and punched the air with joy before Mark continued. "soon to be Amy Urawa."  
"What do you mean by _soon to be Amy Urawa_?" Jay seemed to be rather confused by what Mark said.  
"She's getting married on Christmas Day. Darien said he's going to talk to her fiancee and see if I can attend the wedding." Again, Jess was gobsmacked.  
"You mean Darien as in Darien Chiba?" The smile on Mark's face grew evermore.  
"That's the man." This was just getting better and better for the six who knew not of Mark's experience in Tokyo so far. It was an almost certainty that he would have been fighting alongside the Sailor Senshi and Tuxedo Mask, but the fact that he knew Darein Chiba, the man to become King of Crystal Tokyo under the name of King Endymion, was just astounding.

"I can't believe it! Just how many of the-" Jess' hyped attitude was beginning to become audiable to the other guests residing in the lounge. They did not want to have their cover blown by one of their own, so Mark quickly pressed his index finger to his lips, causing Jess to lower her voice significantly.  
"Ssshh... Sorry Jess, but the last thing we need in a warzone situation is our cover to be blown." Amid wary glances from the other Senshi, Jess blushed in embarassment.  
"Sorry guys." she whispered sheepishly. "I was gonna say, how many of the Sailor Senshi do you know?"  
"Well, I'd say everyone except Sailor Pluto. I've met her, but you of all people should know that she has very little spare time, with you being the Pluto Knight and all. The only time she has off is when you stand in for her." Jess rolled her eyes unamusedly as Ben cut in.  
"Well, I say god help us all if Jess takes the job on full time one day. She'd make the whole bloody Universe hyperactive!" chuckled Ben, applaused by a number of giggles and a stone cold glare from Jess.

I saw this photo at Darien's and Serena's apartment too. It had the nine Sailor Senshi in their civs and Darien, but it also had four more people. In front of Serena and Darien was this small girl with pink hair; I think she only looked about eight or nine -"  
"That'll be Rini Chiba." yawned Ganymede, only just awake on Mark's lap, the sedatives having not worn off yet. "She's the daughter of the future Serena and Darien, I can't remember whether it's before or after they become King and Queen because of these damn sleeping drugs they gave me at Heathrow..." Eyes closed, Ganymede took an almighty yawn, trying to find the strength to avoid falling asleep and continue. "All I know is that she's due to be born on June 30th 2005..." The quite unusual sound of a snoring cat ravaged the ears of the English Senshi, but still the conversation continued on.

"Still, there was three others in the background. Three guys in red jackets and black shirts. They kinda looked like they were from The Hives or something."  
"Do you think they're Senshi?" enquired Andrew.  
"Well, they might be. I'm not sure."  
"Well, why don't you check then?" Raising his eyebrows in approval, Mark put his hand to his shirt, the pendant between his finger and thumb, and squeezed the pendant twice before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his DataPad.  
"Well, to be honest I'd be very surprised if they were. All the Japanese Senshi bar Tuxedo Mask are women." The DataPad instantly switched itself on as Marked tapped the red button on its top. All the others still seemed as relaxed as normal.  
"Do you think they're Star Seeds we haven't recovered yet?" asked Anna while finihing off the rest of her G and T.  
"It's a possibility. I'm in now, so I'll just look it up." Mark continued to tap the screen in various places, searching for the profiles of all the Japanese Senshi. "Here we go." Scrolling down, he looked carefully for the pictures of the three men, the others partially uninterested.

"Here we go. Seiya Kou, Yaten Kou and Taika Kou a.k.a Sailor Star Fighter, Sailor Star Healer and Sailor Star Maker. Apparantly their civilian guise was a Japanese pop group called _The Three Lights_."  
"That's original." Snorted Anna sarcastically.  
"Yeah, apparantly they only helped the Sailor Scouts for approximately three months during their campaign against Galaxia. -"  
"How could we forget that?" replied Emma. "That was the one campaign where the Sailor Scouts all got their arses kicked big time. I'm just grateful that their Star Seeds returned to Earth."  
"Likewise for the rest of those serving the Moon Kingdom loyaly." Mark's head shot back with a look of confusion as he loaded the individual profile of each Sailor Star. "This has gotta be a glitch or something." Ben half-heartedly rose and walked towards Mark to see what theproblem was.  
"What is it?"

"It says _M/F _in the gender field for all three of them. I can't understand why that's happened..." Ben too looked at the screen in confusion.  
"Maybe they're both..."  
"Nah. It would say _H_ in the field if they were. I'll just ask one of the Scouts or Guardiens later. I still think it's a bug. Still, it looks like that their Star Seeds are still the only ones stilll M.I.A." Ben nodded in agreement and returned to his seat before speaking once again as a very important thought came to his head.  
"Speaking of the Scouts, is there any chance we could meet them soon? I wanna see Sailor V in the flesh!" Mark and a few others burst out into laughter at Ben's comments.  
"Please Ben, keep your fantasies to yourself. As for meeting them, I'll see what I can do. They're gonna be extremely busy this week with making sure that Amy's wedding runs smoothly, but maybe after that I might be able to arrange a meet-up." The group could argue with that, it seemed fair enough.

"Fine by us." replied Jay and Andrew as one last thing returned to Mark's head.  
"Oh, and Ben?"  
"Yeah?" A mischevous grin appeared on Mark's face.  
"I have a feeling you might just get lucky with Sailor V. She has personally told me that she thinks you are a hunk." Greeted by wolf whistles and cheers, Ben''s face turned bright pink as he became dumbstruck with astonishment.  
"You're pulling my leg, right?"  
"I wish I was. You have my word, she really said it."

* * *

_Int. Chiba residence, Juuban - December 20th 2002, 5:30 pm._

"Kino."  
"Hey Lita. It's Serena."  
"Hey."  
"Could you come round to my place as soon as you can? Amy and Greg have arrived and they've just settled in."  
"Really? I'm on my way! See you in ten!" Before Serena had chance to reply, Lita slammed down the phone with all-too-apparant excitement.  
"Heh." she thought to herself, a small, contented smile on her face. "Time to get this place sorted." The idea sounded nice. Give the place the once-over before the guests arrived. She looked around the lounge and the hallway. Nothing. Everything seemed perfect, untouched from before they collected Amy and Greg. "Ah well, so much for that."

"Wow Serena, I can't believe how beautiful this place looks." said a voice from behind Serena's back, the voice of Amy.  
"Well, we've only just cleaned this place out to tell you the truth." she replied as she turned around. "We had a spare few hours before you arrived, so we thought we should give this place an early spring clean." another, more modest smile emerged on her face as Amy continued to look around.  
"Serena?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Just wondering, who was that guy that was with you and Darien at the airport?"   
"That was Mark. He was Raye's boyfriend before she was captured. He was in the temple with her when Malachite captured her." Amy was shocked and mortified, horrified at how he must have been feeling since.  
"That's terrible!" she exclaimed. "So I guess he's another civilian that knows about the Dark Kingdom then." Serena froze, staring Amy in the eyes before taking a deep breath.

"He's more than just a civilian. He's the English Senshi of Mars, the Mars Knight."  
"Oh my..." Again Serena paused.  
"The reason why he's here at the moment is so he can find his destiny. Apparantly he's nowhere to be found in Crystal London, while Sailor Pluto thinks there's a slim but possible chance that his future lies here." Amy was starting to become overwhelmed by the story, leaning back against the wall, looking down at the floor.  
"Wow." Serena was about to speak once again, but was cut short by the harmonious melodic chime of the doorbell.  
"That'll probably be Amara and Michelle. I'm sorry about that. I'll explain the full story later."  
"Hey, it's okay Serena. I'll just go and fetch Greg."

* * *

_Int. Tokyo Sunrise B&B lounge - December 20th 2002, 6:05 pm._

"And there he was standing in the doorway absolutely drenched, the mother of all frowns on his face, and Lucy turned round to him and said _'Had a nice journey?'_" Sparking off hysterical laughter in the process, it was Ben's turn to share his anicdotes from the past three months. It was just past six o'clock, and the sun was beginning to set, painting the air a violent blood red.  
"Well, whadd'ya know? Red sky at night, shepherd's delight." said Jay. The rest of the group nodded, seemingly uninterested. However, Mark had always seen red skies as an omen, the red sky at night in particular as an omen to caution, sometimes even an omen of immenant danger. Even with his current less-than-happy self, he took into account any possible meaning or that it could take.

"Heh. Fat chance of getting that dish in Tokyo. Thery don't even sell chips in the supermarket, so somehow I think the chances of getting shepherd's pie are somewhat slimmer." chuckled Mark, his undivided attention given to the skies above.  
"Don't worry about it mate." replied Ben. "I'll air-mail you a few when we get back to England."  
"Hey, thanks mate."

"Mark." said a voice from the doorway, slowly and calmly yet sternly.  
"Eh?" He recognised it. That oh so serene and heavenly voice. Not mentioned in the slightest of alluring tones, yet still it made his heart skip a beat. But it couldn't be, could it? "Raye?" Cautiously, Ben leant over to Mark as Raye gracefully glided towards the friends.  
"Mark, is this the same Raye you were talking about a minute ago?"  
"In body, yes it is her." Closer she came. His moment of bliss faded as he remembered her situation, their situation. "Leave this one to me. She won't understand you, her English ain't that good." Not daring to blink, Mark stared Raye eye to eye, likewise did she. "What do you want?"

"Who are there guys Mark?" Mark remained poker-faced.  
"As long as remain a puppet of the Dark Kingdom, I will tell you absolutely nothing."  
"Hey, don't act that way towards your true love Mark! I love you, unless you've forgotten that already!"  
"It's no use playing the emotional card, they don't understand Japanese." he replied, directing her attention to his eight friends scattered around the sofas. "You may love me, but I truely dispise you. I only have eyes for one person, and that person is Raye Hino." Raye's calmness was waining fast.  
"But I am Raye Hino!" she cried, trying to gain the emotional advantage over Mark. It wasn't working.  
"You are not Raye Hino. You are just another slave of Beryl and Wiseman." His face had become red, his eyes beginning to water. This was personal, and the emotional tension was getting to him, but still he remained clam and focused. Unable to understand what they were saying, the eight English Senshi were powerless to intervene.

"Really? Well, I have long raven-coloured hair and purple eyes, my birthday is April seventeenth, my blood type is AB, my father is a bastard politician who abandoned me when my mother died, I'm currently enrolled in a music course at South Tokyo University, and oh, did I happen to mention I'm Sailor Mars too? I think that's an accurate description of me." Mark was beginning to tremble. He couldn't stand to see Raye like this, but still he had to make a stand, as futile as it seemed.  
"No. You are not Raye Hino. You have her body, but my god, you certainly don't have her soul. That's the one part of a person that can never change, be it in life or death." A pause. Mark's breath deepened further, yet he was somehow finding a seemingly superhuman power to keep his nerve. "I plan to help kick the evil you've become out of you, and return the rightful soul of my only love to her body. And I will do it, be it with my own death if necessary." His breathing was almost out of control, his tears of rage for the Dark Kingdom contained by his tremendous will power. Raye leant forward, causing a jolted reaction from Anna and Ben, and kissed him momentarily on the lips.

"Now I'm no expert on Mafia films, but that, Mark, is the kiss of death. I suggest you make the most of what little time you have left with your little buddies. The final push for rightiousness is immenant." Mark continued to sit as Raye turned around and left the room, his eyes trembling with the anger of what Malachite had done to her. She was pure evil. The complete opposite of what she once was. She still had her temperment, but even that was not the same.  
"Mark..." Ben walked over to his friend, taking caution not to cause a violent outlash. He didn't understand a single word of what was said, but even he could see that he was so deeply upset. "What just happened?" Mark slowly lifted his eyes, staring Ben in the face. The reality of Raye's words struck his heart, and now he was virtually speechless. The final battle was immenant. Surely this meant that his friends, the friend he had known and fought alongside for the past seven years, the friends who helped him open his eyes to the destiny of the planets, the friends he loved and cared for, would become embroiled in this final battle for love, justice and the welfare of the solar system. 

"That was the kiss of death." he replied solemnly.  
"But -"  
"The final battle is almost upon us." He exclaimed to the group, gazing around. All that he could see were the distraught and shocked faces of his friends. He could not imagine how this could be much worse. Not only had he'd been effectively been sentanced to death by the posessed soul of his only love, but now his true friends were to become entangled in the affairs of this war. "I hope you've all got your pendants with you; When the snow falls, so will peace in Tokyo."

* * *

_Int. Laboratory 1, Negaverse Command Centre - 20th December 2002, 6:20 pm._

Frantic. The only word that could be used to describe the four scientists at work maintaining and monitoring Metallia's health and progress. She was almost fully healed, but still slightly too weak to gain the overall victory for the Dark Kingdom. Their leader Professor Tomoe, however, seemed more relaxed. In his small office he browsed through the figures and stats on his screen, yet he seemed completely uninterested. He had much bigger priorities.  
"Fools." he whispered, gazing down at the white coats by the huge glass tank. "None of this is going to matter one bit. I will single-handedly bring the world to my vision, my future..."  
"Professor." Tomoe jolted and looked alert as Prince Diamond etered his office, clipboard in his hand.  
"What is it this time?"  
"Your twelve hour report is due." Frowning, Tomoe opened a nearby drawer and took out a small pile of paper, no more than three of four sheets thick, and handed them to the general.  
"Everything's still on plan for wednesday's attack. She's almost at full health, and it looks like that will be achived on the eve of the 24th."  
"Christmas eve." chuckled Diamond, a tone of evil in his voice.

"Yep, it's sure going to be the best christmas present we could ever ask for." chuckled the Professor in return, hands cushioning his head.  
"Just make sure everything's kept perfect until then, okay?" Diamond began to turn away and leave.  
"One last thing."  
"Where's the other guy? Malachite?" Diamond turned back around. "I've heard rumours that he's been spending a lot of time around that Raye girl. You don't happen to know anything about them, do you?" This was a tight spot. The Professor was onto Malachite. If Tomoe were to speak out to the high command, it could result in Malachite's death.  
"First I've heard. I'll look into it though." he replied, again turning to leave.  
"Okay, I'll see you in the morning then." Diamond had left the dimly-lit, minescule office, leaving Tomoe to put his feet on his desk once again.

"Asshole..."

* * *

_Int. Apartment 211, Hikawa View Apartments - December 20th 2002, 6:55 pm._

"Chiba and Tsukino."  
"Serena, it's Mark."  
"Oh. Hi Mark.  
"Serena, I've got some good news and some bad."  
"What is it?"

Mark had only been back at his apartment for a few moments, but already he was on the phone to Serena. The news of the return of his friends was already joyous enough to him, but that was equally balanced out by Raye's kiss of death. He was convinced that Serena would be as equally ecstatic at the prospect of having eight more Senshi fighting alongside the Japanese ones, but he did not want to think what she would say to the kiss.

Lurking around the corner of the hallway, however, listening with extreme care from his bedroom, was Chad. He had to get it off his chest. He was having extreme trouble accepting that his former girlfriend, who he was close friends with for six years, was Sailor Mars. He had walked out on one of the world's most beautiful women, even though he had always regarded Raye as the most beautiful woman in his life. The fact that his new best friend was also a Senshi of Mars was just as unbelievable. He had to ask. He had to find the right moment to confront his doubts.

"I'll start with the good. Well, you know those guys who I ran to at the airport?" he began to lower his voice to avoid the other flatmates hearing from the lounge.  
"Yeah?"  
"They are the other eight Senshi of England. They came to visit me for christmas, but they also said they will help out in battles should they erupt, which means we'll probably have the superior firepower should the final battle happen this coming week."  
"Mark, that's brilliant! You don't know how much help that'll give us!" Serena was very much ecstatic from the news. Mark had to bring her back down to earth with a thud though.

"Which leads me onto the bad news. It looks like they're gonna try and make sure I don't survive the battle."  
"Mark, don't talk rubbish."  
"Serena, I'm being serious!" he exclaimed. "Raye came by earlier. She came by and gave me the kiss of death."  
"Mark. They're just playing mind games with you. They want you to give up and surrender. If you do that, chances are that our won attack will collapse."  
"I still think she's being orchestrated. The moment the battle's over Beryl will turn around and kill Sailor Mars! She has no use for the Dark Kingdom after this Serena!"

That was more than enough for Chad. He now realised that Serena was in on this Sailor Scout business. Why else would Mark be talking to her about the battle? It was now or never. Once Mark hung up, he would have to confront the noble Englishman.

"Yeah, but our priority is to ensure your safety in order for you to persuade her to become the kind-hearted, loving person she really is. You won't die." There was another anxious pause. While Serena and Mark pondered about what lay ahead, Chad was trying to find the right words to say to Mark. "So any idea when the final battle will happen?"  
"No idea. There's a really strange set of weather fronts to the west of Japan, so no-one, not the Tokyo Broadcasting System, not the BBC, not anyone has any idea what the weather will be like for the next few days, but snow is a strong possibility. We've just gotta remain on high alert until they can figure out what the weather's gonna turn out like."  
"Yeah..." sighed Serena anxiously.  
"Well, I'll call you again if anything's up. See ya."  
"Yeah, see ya Mark." Just as soon as Mark put his phone down, Chad entered from his room.

"So she's in on it too... Serena Tsukino..." Mark was puzzled, whereas Chad was gazing down at Mark's feet, seemingly trying to conceal his feelings.  
"Chad? What are you on about?"  
"Mark, don't play the innocent. I know your secret."Alarm bells began to ring in Mark's head. Very loud alarm bells. Had his cover been blown? He could not say a thing until he knew that Chad was completely correct.  
"Chad, what the hell are you talking about?!"  
"Mark." Chad remained quiet, trying to avoid the unwanted attention of Jack and Sarah. Having seen the Sailor Senshi in real life a number of times, and even having been saved by them on one occasion, he appreciated their role in Tokyo. He appreciated that revealing his identity to anyone else could jeapordise those closest to him - Raye, Jack, Sarah, even himself. "I know your powers. You are the Mars Knight."

Mark froze. He had been exposed. Chad was now the first civilian that knew his true self. Struggling for words, he tried to make a quick comeback.  
"What else do you know?"  
"So you're not denying it? It would be pointless to anyway."  
"No I'm not denying it. Just answer my question." Chad slowly lifted his head, his solemn brown eyes locked onto Mark's face.  
"I know that Raye is Sailor Mars, and from what I just heard, Serena's in on it too."  
"And where might you have gotten this information then?"

"When you injured your hand this morning I went to your room and picked up the pen, ready to put it in the trash like you asked. I saw your note pad on the floor and was curious enough to read it. That's how I found out the identity of Sailor Mars, and hell, I have been feeling extremely pissed off with myself all day because of it!" Chad was beginning to lose his normally serene temperment. "For six years I have loved her! Ever since I turned up at the temple door completely stone-cold drunk one night! And after one large argument one night, do I try and patch things up with her? No! I run off to America like the cowardly piece of shit I am and leave behind the most beautiful woman in the world! Not only that, but she's a legendary superheroine too! Now how damn unlucky can one guy get, eh? TELL ME!!!" Mixing English with Japanese, Chad was at his wit's end. His eyes were watering and he was beginning to bury his head in his hands.

"Look, you didn't know these things. Don't go blaming yourself, okay?" Mark was trying his best to be sincere in order to calm Chad down.  
"It was my decision and I made the wrong one!"  
"Everyone makes bad decisions." Mark paused as he remembered the worst decision he had ever made, the one that brought down the mighty Silver Millenium. "Compared to other wrong decisions, your consequences are not very bad at all. Tell me, would it have made any difference to your opinion of her if you knew from the start she was Sailor Mars?"  
"I don't know."  
"Destiny has you linked to someone. That someone happens not to be Raye though." Mark stopped momentarily as Chad began to sob, the reality becoming too much for him. "I could tell you a lot more, but under my duties I'm forbidden to give any sensitive information to civilians."  
"So what can you tell me?"  
"Get away from Tokyo this week. Something serious is likely to happen within the next seven days, something which will endanger the lives of everyone in Tokyo. You've been one of my best friends here, I just want to keep you safe." Wiping a tear from his eye, Chad seemed very surprised.

"When exactly will this happen?"  
"When the snow falls this coming week. That's about as accurate as I can give you. If you have relatives outside of Tokyo, pay them a christmas visit or something. Just get out of here."

* * *

**_End Of Chapter 25_**


	26. White Wedding

_Author's Notes/Disclaimer: We're finally close to the end now. I'm hoping that this is the penultimate chaptper, so brace yourselves, it's all gonna kick off here! I created the Knights while Naoko Takeuchi owns everything else Sailor Moon-related._

**Chapter XXVI: White Wedding**

_Int. Apartment 211, Hikawa View Apartments - December 25th 2002, 7:55 am._

"Merry Christmas guys!" 

December 25th, Christmas Day. A day heralded worldwide as a day of peace and love, a day spent with family and friends, a day when the world abandons everything to be with loved ones. Apartment 211 was no different. Despite the absence of Chad, who claimed he had decided to spend the holiday with his "grandmother" in Kobe, all were in the Christmas spirit.

It was not Japanese tradition to erect a Christmas tree in the living room of a house as Christmas was more of a time for lovers than family, but Mark had taken the time to print out a picture of a Christmas tree on some card, which now hung on the wall directly above the small pile of delicatley wrapped gifts.  
"Morning Sarah." called Mark from the kitchen, the glorious fumes of sizzling bacon filling the atmosphere. "Merry Christmas."  
"You're up early Mark. I heard you at about half six this morning."  
"Well, I can't sleep on Christmas eve." he chuckled, a faint yawn escaping his mouth. "I've never been able to ever since I was a little kid. I just get too excited about the next day."  
"Heh. Same here. This is the first time in a few years I've managed to sleep easy on Christmas eve." she yawned in return. "I was absolutely knackered last night."

"So any idea when lazy arse is gonna get up?"  
"I heard that Mark." called another voice from further down the hallway.  
"Speak of the devil. Morning Jack."  
"Yeah, Merry Christmas Mark." He sat down on the sofa next to Sarah, giving her an affectionate cuddle, resulting in a purr of joy from her, before reaching for the remote and turning on the television. "About damn time too!" he exclaimed.  
"What's up?" enquired Mark curiously.  
"Looks like they've isolated the reason for that whole fainting at that concert thing." Mark peered out of the Kitchen anxiously.  
"Which is?"  
"Carbon Dioxide." Mark breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily the public still did not know of the latest Dark Kingdom threat. That was to change sometime soon though, he had known that for a while. The weather could turn at any second, and if snow fell, the battle would begin.

Mark dived into the kitchin once again before emerging from a vast cloud of gaseous fats and smoke, a bacon sandwich and a cup of tea, two sugars, in hand.  
"Wow. I'm surprised no-one died."  
_"Good morning and merry christmas."_ Said the presenter as Mark turned on the television, the channel set to a Japanese english-speaking news channel. _"Japan gears up its precautionary measures in the wake of the recent attacks in the electric district."  
_"I'm not surprised there..." said Sarah. "Christmas is supposed to be about peace and love, but what the hell do terrorists know about that?"  
_"Tokyo is preparing for the first white Christmas in years this as a last-minute snow cloud is expected to hit East Hokkaido this afternoon."_ Mark dropped his bacon sandwich back down onto his plate, whichlanded with a splat.

"Today's the day..."  
"Yeah, I know! Christmas! I'll tell you what, I'll go make the coffees. I need to wake up before I open my presents!" Joyfully Sarah jogged away into the fog cloud that was the kitchen. Mark did not seem nowhere near as optimistic.  
"Jack, I'll be back in a moment. I just need to use the phone." Slowly he found his feet, paced towards the hallway and reached for the telephone, agonisingly dialing.  
"Chiba and Tsukino."  
"Darien, it's bad news."  
"I know. I've just seen the forecast." Mark strolled to his room. Opening his curtains, the clouds were already visible to the east of the pictuesque crystal sky.  
"So what's the plan now? It looks like it's gonna hit during the middle of the wedding."  
"Well, it it seems pretty bad. Amy and Greg's big day is gonna be ruined, but at least there will be eight Sailor Senshi, myself and you. Sailor Pluto's handed temporary charge of the Doors of Time to the American Pluto Senshi just so she could be at the ceremony, so that means she'll come into play. I really must call Serena as soon as I can though. I don't think she knows yet." Mark promptly interrupted before Darien hung up.

"What about my lot though? The English Knights?"  
"Ah yeah, Serena briefly mentioned something about them. What about them?"  
"If we keep them nearby that means we've got a total squad of eighteen Senshi. That should bring more than enough strength to win the final battle."  
"I see..."  
"The only problem is where to find a place close to the church that's open today."  
"Well, there's always Central Park. That's not too far away." Realising he had left his laptop on all night, Mark quickly called up a map of central Tokyo.  
"I've just called up a map." Mark whirred the pointer about, searching for somewhere his friends could stay on this bitterly cold day. "You're right. The park looks like the best bet."  
"Yeah, okay. I'm sorry, I've really gotta go now."  
"Okay. See ya at the altar."

No sooner than he had hung up, Mark dialed again. Still he gazed at the map.  
"Okay, where could they hit?" He tapped his fingers on his desk, unable to divert his attention from the illuminous glow of the screen.  
"Hello?"  
"Merry Christmas Anna."  
"Thanks!" squealed Anna with a sudden burst of excitement. "I wish I could say everyone could say the same, but they're all still asleep. I dunno how they could possible lie in on Christmas Day."  
"Well, it would be best if you get them all up as soon as possible. I've got news and it ain't pretty." Anna's heart sank.  
"What do you mean?"  
"Today's the day. The battle kicks off this afternoon."  
"WHAT?! You've gotta be kidding me!" Enraged at the news Anna was ready to slam down the phone in anger. At the last moment, however, she realised what a stupid move this would be and put the phone back to her ear.

"You heard me. It all ends today. I'm just looking for potential flashpoints now." Anna still needed convincing.  
"And how can you be certain of this?"  
"Visions."  
"Oh for goodness sake Mark..." An aura of refusal had invaded Anna. "Of all days of the year, this is the one day I refuse to fight on!"  
"Well you're gonna have to break that rule. Just get everyone up and spread the news."  
"Okay, okay, I will do. So what the hell do we do today?" Although Mark remained as serene as his typically mild temper allowed, Anna was unsure what to believe, nor was she sure what to do.

"Everyone hands around the Cental Park, near the main city church. Myself and all of the senshi bar Sailor Mars will be there for the wedding of Sailor Mercury. It's gonna be cold and we're due snow, so wrap up."  
"Great, so we're gonna be freezing our arses of while we're waiting for this." Mark was running out of time and patience.  
"Quit complaining Anna! Unless you've forgotten, the Earth is on the line again! You may be the leader, but you've gotta show more alertness and readyness at times like these!"  
"Okay! Just quit complaining!" Both parties were close to screaming. Anna could be more than slightly argumentative at times, but this was truely taking the biscuit. "Anyway, looks like we've just woken Lucy up now..."  
"Okay." said Mark with all the calmness he could manage. "Everyone must be in Central Park within close proximity of the church at half one at the latest. When this does kick off, we're going straight into top gear, so the armour does apply."

"Got it. I'll see you on the battlefield then. I hope you enjoy the wedding while it lasts."  
"Yeah, thanks. I'll see you around." Ending the call, Mark sat back and gazed to the cream ceiling, glowing from the almost perfectly clear skies.  
"Get your act together Anna... There's more than just the Earth at stake here..."

* * *

_Int. "The War Room", Negaverse command center - December 25th 2002, 9:00 am._

"Good morning. I believe we all know the purpose of this morning's meeting."

The War Room and its inhabitants belched more than a hint of enthusiasm as the final meeting of the high command and generals commenced. Chaired by Beryl, all major players from the organisation were present, all bar Malachite. The absence was notable.  
"Before I start, may I ask of the whereabouts of Malachite?" The room fell silent. "Okay then. I shall start without him."

"Today is the day of our final push for rightiousness, the battle for control of Earth. All we have to do is defeat the Sailor Scouts and the Mars Knight." Murmers escaped from the mouths of Tomoe, Wiseman and Prince Diamond as they discussed the reasoning behind her statement. Still she continued. "I know it's easier said than done. We have all suffered defeat at their hands in the past. However, recent events have conspired against them, with successful attacks such as operation Starry Night. With this I believe fate may be on our side this time. Wiseman will now run through the battle plan." As Beryl sat, Wiseman hovered above the table, an ability he treasured, being a demon so short in stature.

"Our assault begins at three o'clock sharp Tokyo time. We understand that the Sailor Scouts are attending the wedding of Amy Mizuno a.k.a Sailor Mercury at the time. Because of this we will bring the fight to them at the central Tokyo methodist church and hope to gain the advantage of surprise. However, we are unsure of where the Mars Knight will be at the time, so until then we bring Sailor Mars into action as bait. Once he arrives on the scene we shall dispose of her." The words rang in the ears of Prince Diamond. Sailor Mars would be dead by the end of the day. He knew that it was extremely lucky that Malachite was not in the room at the moment: such news would devastate him and aggrevate him. However, he knew he had to argue against the case on behalf of his friend and colleague.

"If I may ask, why exactly has the decision to execute Sailor Mars on the battlefield been made? Is it not possible for her to serve some sort of purpose after all this is over?" Wiseman focused in on Prince Diamond, his shadowed face making the task of determining his expression impossible.  
"She will serve no purpose once this is over. The death of her will also greatly decrease the morale of the Sailor Scouts and will also destroy the Mars Knight. She is the reason the Mars Knight has followed this compaign so asserively, and if she dies, the Mars Knight will have nothing left to live for."  
"But Lord -"  
"She will be executed. Case closed. Now if I find you interfering with the plans once more you shall not live to see this battle. You will be executed for treason if you do not comply!" Dejected and fearful, Diamond backed down immediately.  
"Yes my Lord."

* * *

It was true that Malachite had not attended the briefing. However, he was still present in the command centre - in the company of Raye. He had spent most of the morning with her running through the tactics and plans for the final assault, not knowing of the raging debate in the War Room.

"So are you now clear on our three main plans for this battle?" With a number of maps and texts spread out across the table, Malachite sat opposite Raye, his face stone cold in all seriousness.  
"Yes I am."  
"Right, so remember, you must act professionally and seriously. Any fooling around will not be tolerated, and believe me you do not want to get on the wrong side of Queen Beryl." Raye sighed in boredom.  
"Yes, I know. You've already told me a thousand times before." Malachite sat straight, trying his best to remain profession despite his compassionate feelings for her.  
"I care for you. That's why I keep saying it." Raye glanced up in shock at him. The seemingly strict general who appeared not to care for a single thing other that power and Beryl had just unwittingly revealed his innermost secret.  
"What?" Raye seemed bemused. This was somewhat of a shock to the system for her. Malachite immediately went on the defensive.

"I said want you to come out of all this in one piece. There will be a place for you in the new era. Just be cautious yet assertive." There was no fooling her. She had latched on to those four words and was not willing to let go.  
"No. You said something before then. You said you cared for me." The nerves jangled as Malachite began to lose his collectiveness. He was truely in trouble if Raye now reacted badly, even more so if she told Beryl.  
"It was a slip of the tongue!" he exclaimed, lifting himself from his chair.  
"So you're saying you don't care for me. Is that it?" That was it. Malachite had now officially lost all chance of a comeback. He had to appear calm and assertive, yet he could not provide an adequet answer. Either he admitted his feelings to Raye or he lost her respect.

"I will not warrant an answer to that question. Now may we continue with the briefing?" Raye's face was now as stone cold as Malachite's was only a few moments ago. There was an anxious silence, a silence Malachite wanted to keep for as long as he could. It was shattered violently. "TELL ME!" screamed Raye, slamming her fist on the table.  
"Okay! I did mean what I said!" shouted Malachite back. "Over the past few weeks I have certainly grown fond of you and just want you to be very careful out there!" He paused to regain his composure. "Now you have two choices. Either keep this to yourself and no-one gets hurt, or tell Queen Beryl and get us both killed. She'll certainly waste no time in getting rid of us both."  
"I'm not sure what to make of this..." mumbled Raye.  
"Look, just forget it for now. Put it out of your mind. We've got way more important issues to deal with right now." Raye stood up and cautiously walked towards him, stopping only when she was face-to-fac with him.

"Is this just caring for my welfare, or is this more than just caring?" Raye was still aggrevated and serious, yet she seemed to have an aurora of seduction around her.  
"And why should I tell you?" There was no reply from Raye; She just closed her eyes and leant forward that extra inch, the extra inch between Malachite's lips and her own. The alluring scent of her perfume invaded his nostrils as he too closed his eyes, and letting instinc take over, deepeed the kiss. At that moment nothing else mattered. He couldn't care less whether or not the Dark Kingdom secured victory that afternoon. Quite frankly, he couldn't give a damn if he even lived to see the end of the day. Holding Raye in his arms was all he had ever dreamed of for the past two months, and now that was reality. Breaking the kiss, Raye gleaming raven eyes gazed up into Malachite's, her fingers entangling themselves in the silver waterfall that was his hair.

"That is exactly why you should tell me."

* * *

_Ext. Central Tokyo Methodist Church - 25th December 2002, 2:30 pm._

A chill in the air. What seemed on any other occasion perfectly ordinary weather for Christmas Day was tearing away at the thoughts of the Sailor Senshi and Mark. They were now just waiting for the beginning of the end, the moment the Dark Kingdom reared its hideous head to ruin Amy's wedding day. Mark, wearing his best black suit, a small white lilly pretruding from his breast pocket, and cream tie had been one of the first guests to appear, arriving and taking his seat on the side of Amy's family only moments after Hotaru and Trista.

He remained silent, staring at the rather magnificent archetecture of the spiraling columns winding their way up and caressing the perplexing patterns engraved into the roof. The pewter was only interrupted by the occasional stripe of blood red cascading along the archways. Directly above the rows of deep mahogany benches in the congregation hung gleaming lamps filling the hall with a heavenly glow. There was nothing else to do during the time, but he always liked to admire what beauty man could create.

Slowly but surely as time progressed, more guests arrived to take their places. Most of those attending Mark did not recognise at all, most he knew he probably wouldn't ever meet again after this day. In all possibility, he knew that these people may not be alive to see the end of the day, likewise with himself. There was nothing he could do until the battle kicked off though.

It was now a quarter to three. He could not see the outside due to the stained glass windows, but he could feel the chill invading the atmosphere of the church. The time was drawing ever closer. Further still the guests trickled in, and Mark once more looked down at his watch.  
"Another minute that passes is another minute of innocense and freedom..." he whispered to himself before glancing behind himself once more. Darien had arrived, and was now walking down the aisle alongside Greg and someone who appeared to be Greg's father. Faint bickering could be heard from the direction of the guests on Greg's side of the congregation, yet Mark remained silent.  
"Ah. I'm getting too nervous... Gotta talk to someone..." He could not bear his own silence. Slowly he stood up and crept two rows forwards, placing hemself next to Amara.

"Mark." said Amara in her usual dry tone.  
"Good afternoon ladies." he replied as cheerfully as he managed.  
"So I hear this is it. This afternoon it all ends."  
"Looks like it Michelle." sighed Mark. "As long as they don't strike during the ceremony itself. I don't want Miss Mizuno's big day to be ruined in any way, shape or form."  
"You can say that again." In front of the trio a woman seemingly in her late forties who looked exactly like an older version of Amy walked down the aisle, taking her seat on the front row. "I take it that's her mother."  
"Dr. Mizuno herself. If she's sitting down there now, that must mean Amy's father's walking her down the aisle." Michelle swiftly interrupted Amara's comments.  
"Her father's an artist. He divorced her mother over fifteen years ago, but occasionally visited just to check on Amy."  
"I see."

"I'm not really surprised to hear that her father would be there. Even though Mr. and Dr. Mizuno dispised each other in the end, they still both loved their only daughter more than anything else." Gazing around further, Mark nodded understandably.  
"So wherebouts are Mina, Serena and Lita? I thought they would have been here by now."  
"Bridesmaids." replied Michelle promptly. "They're gonna arrive right behind Ami and her father."  
"I see." Silence persued once more as Mark struggled to make conversation. He had too much on his mind. At any moment he faced his final chance to bring Raye away from the illusion of the Dark Kingdom. The end was nigh, yet he dared not to think of any possible outcome. The organ ended his silence. The organ, from which its magnificent pipes flowed the melody of the bridal march. 

Attention became undivided and concentrated on the doorway to the back of the room. Attention concentrated soley on once aqua-haired young woman draped from head to toe in what could only be described as the most stunningly beautiful wedding dress a woman of her stature could wear, the heavenly white glow portraying all things pure and innocent. Side-by-side with her taller, snow-haired, sharply-dressed father, she was persued by three of her greatest friends. Mina, her orange, slightly toned-down replica of Amy's own dress, representing the light of love, the love of friendship and the love between Amy and Greg. Serena, her golden attire representing the hopes of the couple for the future. Makoto, her evergreen dress representing nature, the nature of humans of coming togehter as a community in good times and bad, plentiful times and hard times.

However, it was apparant on the face of every one of Amy's closest friends that something of the upmost importance was missing. Raye. The expression of Serena especially was forcing a smile, although it was all too clear that she was wishing for Raye's arrival. Mark guessed the same for Amy, the knowledge of not seeing one of her best friend present at her own wedding seemingly hard to mask. Yet still they knew they had to carry on without her, and as the organ stopped as Amy stood side-by-side for the final time as a single woman, the entire congregation fell silent and sat attentively.

* * *

_Ext. Central Park, Tokyo - 25th December 2003, 2:58 pm._

"Well, this isn't exactly the ideal way to spend your christmas day..."

The group of Englishmen and -women, all wrapped up in the warmest gear they had packed, had now been waiting in the Park, huddled round a single bench, for nearly two hours. The bitterly cold wind gave the eight a struggle to keep their heat despite the many leayers of clothing. Clouds above had congregated and were becomming duller by the second. The sun could not shine, leaving the area in limbo between the light and the dark.

"You said it Andrew." replied a shivering Steff. "I will be truely pissed off with Mark if this turns out to be a hoax." The group nodded in unison.  
"I think it's fair to say that the whole lot of us will." replied Jay.

* * *

"Friends and family, we are gathered here today (in this beautiful place) to witness the joining of two lives. This is the marriage celebration of two people who are special to you." The ceremony had begun. As all those present sat in silence, most of the guests were smiling gleefully for the couple standing at the altar. Mark was trying his upmost to follow suit, as too was Michelle and Amara. Yet the knowledge of what was to happen ate away at them.

"Who gives the Bride away?"   
"I do." Amy's father stood up momentarily before sitting down once again.  
"These two separate people have chosen this special time and place to be married to each other. The decision to marry is not entered into lightly, but rather is undertaken with great consideration and respect for both the other person and oneself. You as friends and family are able to celebrate with Amy and Greg in the making of this important commitment." Mark glanced at his watch. Three o'clock exactly. He knew the Sailor Scouts were now living off borrowed time. Breathing deeper, he returned his attention to the altar.

"The esscence of marriage is love and love is one of the highest experiences that we as human beings can share. Love adds meaning to our lives. One of the greatest things we can do is to love another human being as a husband and wife love each other. Marriage symbolisesthe sharing of two lives. Yet this closeness will not diminish the character or being of either individual partner. As your marriage continues to grow, your understanding of each other will continue to expand. Time and togetherness will gain for each of you a deep knowledge of each other. Today's marriage ceremony signifies the beginning of a lifetime of wonderful human experiences to be shared as a husband and wife."

* * *

"Three o'clock. Here begins the third hour of us sitting here like penguins..." Clinging onto Anna and Jay, Lucy was trying to steal as much warmth for herself as she possibly could.  
"Look guys. I know it's brass monnkey weather, but since when has Mark been wrong on these things? When it comes to the crunch, Mark's visions have been right every time." Ben was starting to become very annoyed with all the complaining from his friends. "Give the guy a break. If anything, it'll be much better if it turns out he's wrong. At least we won't be going head-first into battle if he is wrong."  
"I guess..." sighed Jess.

* * *

Another minute had passed by, and Amy and Greg were now facing each other, hand in hand. The love and respect they had for each other was easily interpreted by the affectionate, misty-eyed way in which they gazed at each other. At the moment it seemed like something from a fairytale. Was the day to end that way though?

"Now we celebrate the love that Amy and Greg have for each other and as family and friends you give social recognition to their intention to permanently accept the other by reciting the marriage vows:" Slowly the Reverand faced Greg, the congregation leaning forward in anticipation.

"Greg Urawa, do you take this woman to be your wedded wife?"  
"I do."  
"Will you love her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, and keep yourself only unto her as long as you both shall live?" replied Greg promenantly, the smile on his face widening by the second. The dream was almost reality.  
"I will." The Reverand now turned to Amy, her shaking hands broadcasting her nervous disposition.

"And do you, Amy Mizuno, take this man to be your wedded husband?" Ami gasped for breath through the smile of her feint lips.  
"I do." she replied with her trademark quiet tone.  
"Will you love him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, and keep yourself only unto him as long as you both shall live?"  
"I will." Almost in tears of joy, she nodded at the Reverand emphatically before turning back to her husband-to-be.

* * *

"Almost time to face destiny..." Marching side-by-side down the long winding halls of the command centre, Raye and Malachite seemed stone-cold determined to complete the task ahead perfectly. The attack call had been given, and now throughout the maze of corridoors shone scarlet strobe-lighting. The destination now, the transporter rooms.  
"Soon we shall be together in a world of our own Malachite."  
"If lady luck permits, so be it." The sheer determination of Malachite to win through with Raye by his side now took over his concience. He cared no longer for his leader. He cared no longer for his organisation. He cared no longer for his alliegience. He had been overcome by love, and he liked it.

"Surely lady luck will play no part. Determination and strategy will reign supreme in the end."  
"The two of us do not hold the key to viewing the future, so we cannot be certain of anything. But as long as we still stand tall at the end, nothing will stop the two of us, no matter what becomes of the others in the end."

* * *

"I, Greg Urawa, take you Amy Mizuno, to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part." Despite all that was happening around, Mark undevided attention was aimed at his watch. Five past three. He wasn't sure how much more of the agonising wait he could take. Whereas the other Sailor Senshi had something to take their minds off the situation, the wedding only reminded Mark of Raye, and of the final chance to recover her which lay moments away.  
"And now you Amy. Repeat after me."  
"I, Amy Mizuno, take you Greg Urawa, to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part." It was now Darien's time to rise from his seat, opening before the couple an ocean blue padded jewelery box to reveal two sparkling, seemingly pure, gold rings.

"As a token of your vows, let you exchange a symbol of love. These rings shall from this time forward be a symbol of your love. Let these unending circles signify to all that your commitment is deep and your love is true." Taking one ring each, Amy and Greg remained face to face, holding back tears and smiling as wide as their faces allowed.  
"In token of the vows made between us, with this ring, I pledge to you my love and my life." repeated Greg, following the Reverand's initial speech, slowly sliding his ring onto the fourth finger on Amy's tender, soft hand.  
"In token of the vows made between us, with this ring, I pledge to you my love and my life." repeated Amy, repeating Greg's actions.

* * *

"Hey guys! Look above!" called Ben. Sure enough, there seemed to be small white specks floating down from yonder upwards. Small, icy, white specks.  
"Snow! Ready yourselves!" In unison the eight reached inside their many shirts and sweaters, yanking out thier pendants, ready for action the moment the very first flake smashed into the ground.

* * *

"You have vowed to be loyal and loving toward each other. May you keep these vows which you have made here today. May you comfort each other, share each other's joys, console each other during times of trouble, and help each other as husband and wife. May you encourage each other in whatever you set out to achieve. And, most importantly, may you continue to love one another forever." For the final time the Reverend turned to the congregation, Amy and Greg still gazing into each other, hand in hand.

"Amy and Greg have formalized their vows and the bond between them in your presence and in mine, I therefore, by the powers vested in me, pronounce you HUSBAND AND WIFE."

* * *

"Right. Best of luck to you all." Beryl, Wiseman, Diamond, Malachite and Raye stood shoulder-to-shoulder in a line on the transporter, Professor Tomoe at the console. The room was one of the most brightly lit in the complex, its pure white glow a strain to the eyes of all used to such a dank, dull place. "As you know I'm staying back here to release Metallia when you so require."  
"I thank you for everything you have done Professor. Without you Metallia would not be in the prime condition she is in now." said Beryl, iron-willed yet grateful.  
"It's nothing. As long as we seal the victory. That's all that matters."  
"Get us out of here Tomoe." said Wiseman, his booming low voice echoing throughout the small room. "It is time to change our destiny."  
"With pleasure." With one push of a button, the five disintegrated, heading to the planes of Tokyo for the final assault. Tomoe smirked once the five had disappeared completely. "Good luck guys. You'll need it."

* * *

"You may kiss the bride." Encouraged by a spontaneous round of applause and cheers of affection from the congregation, Greg slowly lifted the fient vail covering Amy's pale face, and met her lips, sealing the marriage.

**_"Boom!!!"_**

An almighty explosion rocked the church, an explosion outside that was so powerful it shattered every single window on the west side. Mark was the first to stand up amidst a mass of panicking guests, fleeing to the entrance to determine what had happened.

"It's begun."

* * *

**_End Of Chapter 26_**


	27. The Final Sacrifice

_Author's Note: Here it is. The final chapter. What happens to everyone in the end? Read on. I'm not going to bother with the 'I don't own...' crap this time. You've already heard it enough._

**Chapter XXVII: The Final Sacrifice.**

Barely a moment later, Mark was out of the door, out into the unknown. Many of the guests followed, only to dash back into the church in complete shock.  
"What are you all waiting for?!" shouted Serena to the rest of her friends. "We've gotta go NOW! We've gotta help Mark before he's killed out there!" The others nodded. All except Amy, who was holding on to her new husband as tightly as she could. Greg was following suit.  
"Right!" called Mina and Lita, following the outer Senshi out of the church as fast as their dresses allowed. Serena turned around to face Amy, determination in her own face attempting to remove the fear from Amy's.

"Are you in Amy? I'd understand if you decided not to come along, but we need you as much as we need everyone else." Gazing up through the shattered mess that once were the stained glass windows, Amy took a deep breath before turning back to Greg.  
"I don't want to leave you Greg. Not here, not now, not ever."  
"Amy. You've gotta help your friends out there." Greg released Amy from his grasp. "As much as I hate to see you risk your life out there, you've gotta serve your duty."  
"Thanks Greg." Kissing him for as long as she possibly could, Amy released Greg from her own grip. A tap on the back from Serena caused Amy to break the kiss promptly.  
"Amy, do us proud. I'll be watching over you." In any other circumstance Serena would have been in tears at the love this couple shared. However, there was an attack happeneing just outside, an attack which had to be stopped as soon as possible. With one final longing glance, Amy turned and followed Serena and Darien out of the Church.

* * *

**_"MARS STARLIGHT TRANSFORMATION!!!"_**

Mark ran through the pathways of the vast park at an almost Olympic pace, his body turning as pale as the moon as piece by piece, scarlet body armour formed on his limbs and torso. The boots, the shins, the thighs and lower waist, Mark slowly taking the form of a Knight from days of old. Yet the armour did not affect his pace, almost as if the metallic structure was weightless. He had pulled an ace from his sleeve, he had called upon his ultimate form. Now he truely was the Mars Knight.

It was a good half mile until the Mars Knight reached the battlefield, yet determination only increased his speed. His determination to seize the final opportunity to recover Raye. The final opportunity to make her realise what she had really been doing for the past two months. Maintaining his pace, he reached into hip pocket and grabbed his DataPad.  
"Anna! Come in!" A small picture of his friend appeared in the top right corner of his now metallic crimson glasses.  
"We read you Mars. We're on our way to the scene."  
"How far are you away?"  
"Judging by the smoke, about a mile." He was starting to tire and run short of breath, but he knew he had to reach the scene as fast as he could. Yet he knew he couldn't teleport to the scene - he could not allow himself to become too far ahead of the Sailor Scouts in the likely case he struggled against the evil leaders.  
"Okay. Have you all gone top gear?"

"Roger. What should we look out for?" The Mars Knight tapped the screen a few times. The snow had started to fall in greater amounts while the winds had also picked up. He wiped away the snow that had become stuck to his glasses. With one more tap, an envelope flew past his view.  
"Just sent the stats to Mercury. There are two guys who I know will definately be there. They're the two profiles I just sent. As far as I remember though there were four on the battlefield in my vision, so we're gonna be left guessing about tactics for those two until the Sailor Scouts arrive."  
"So what about Raye? Have you got any tactic to stop her?" There was a long and silent pause, a pause only interfered with by the Mars Knight's pantings.  
"I'd rather not think about it. I'll play it as it goes along."  
"Right. See you there. Moon out." The Mars Knight's glasses cleared. He was now a few hundred metres from the battlefield, yet it felt like his lungs were going to burst.  
"Damn! Overpaced myself!" he screamed as he looked behind him. The Outer Senshi were several hundred metres behind him. He wasn't too far ahead, but he knew he had to stall the fighting by a few minutes at least.

Several excruciating moments later the Mars Knight was there. The snow was almost like a blizzard as he hacked his way through a small wooded area, slowly striding out of the other side.  
"Halt right there!" he shouted. Stood before him were two familiar faces, Queen Beryl, the queen who the Sailor Scouts so nearly thwarted back at the cinema incident. Beside her was scum. Malachite. Yet still, to the left there were two faces he did not recognise. One truely tiny being, draped in a hood which shadowed out his face, floating on a royal blue satin cushion with a crystal ball perched between his hands. If it wasn't for the blanked-out face, the Mars Knight could have been mistaken for believing the being was Yoda. Finally to the far left stood a man of a similar stature to Malachite, the long white hair, the strong build, his white, thorn-patterend uniform seemingly the only major difference between himself and Malachite.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in." chuckled Malachite mockingly. "And where, might I ask, are your Sailor Scout friends?" Clanking his armour with an aggressive thud, the Mark Knight gritted his teeth.  
"On their way from a wedding you just happened to interupt. They'll be here in a matter of seconds." He took another step forward. "Now if your little playmates don't mind, us two have a little score to settle man-to-man."  
"Malachite." interrupted Beryl. "What is the meaning of this?" Her face seemed to tighten up more so than before.  
"Your Majesty, it is a trivial matter." he slowly but menacingly turned his head towards the Mars Knight. "A matter I will resolve this instant."  
"Trivial my arse!" exclaimed the Mars Knight. "Face it Malachite. You brainwashed her. How can you call your love 'true love' if she's just your puppet?"  
"Malachite! I demand an explanation now!" shouted Beryl down the ear of her General.   
"As you wish. Let's just see what she makes of all this." Malachite peered behind Beryl's back and stepped aside. In his place emerged Sailor Mars. "A fine example of beauty wouldn't you say?"

"Raye!" Mark was shocked. Not because she was on the battlefield, he was more shocked by how close he was standing to her and how close she was to Malachite. "Are you alright Raye?"  
"So you're actually calling me Raye now. Isn't that a complete turnaround." It was all too obvious. Raye was still completely under the control of Malachite. However, in the corner of his eye he noticed that Beryl was fuming. It was time to pit General against Queen. Slowly the Mars knight turned his face away from Malachite and Sailor Mars and glanced towards Beryl.

"A bit of a bombshell, eh, Beryl? Your general steals my girlfriend, brainwashes her against her own will and gets her to do the dirty work for you all. That I can understand being the evil low-life you all are." He turned sharply back towards Malachite. "But now it seems that your General is not as evil as you think."  
"Can it Mars." Grumbled Malachite.  
"Oh no no no." A broad smirk grew on the Mars Knight's face. "Beryl, it seems like your general is in love with your prisoner. Now what kind of Dark Kingdom general would show love and affection for anyone, let alone a prisoner?" All eyes were on Malachite as Beryl's sharp tongue prepared to slice Malachite's personality into tiny shreds. Yet to the side the Mars Knight noticed that the defenses of the small man and the other general. Slowly and carefully he moved his ahnds behind his back, ready to call a surprise attack.  
"I SAID SHUT IT!" Screamed Malachite, finally snapping. Flailing out his arms he blasted an array of thick purple orbs at the Mars Knight, some only narrowly missing him as he ducked and dived.

"Hey! Watch where you're firing those things! You could cause some serious damage to someone like that!" jeered the Mars Knight, increasing Malachite's rage. Beryl was having no more of it.  
"Malachite! Stand down now! You have brought too much shame upon the name of the Dark Kingdom!"  
"Your Majesty I -"  
"You listen to me now! Who are you to say you love a Sailor Scout?! You are a traitor and a disgrace! You are still of use though, unlike her!" shouted Beryl in her blind rage, pointing a finger at a hapless Sailor Mars. Again the Mars Knight charged up, ready to take advantage of the in-fighting.  
"What?!" exclaimed Sailor Mars. "After all I've done for you! I am not worthless!"  
"You are now!" With one swift movement, a huge ball of green energy shot from Beryl's hands and blew Sailor Mars to the ground. She had been knocked out cold, enraging both the Mars Knight and Malachite.

"Now come on! That was uncalled for your Majesty!" Malachite rushed over to the lifeless body of Sailor Mars along with the Mars Knight, both men holding one of her hands each.  
"I've warned you before about following orders! This is your final chance!" Beryl slowly smirked. "If you want to prove your worth, kill her right here right now! If you don't, I will. simple as that." Malachite trembled as the Mars Knight looked into his eyes. Malachite's expression was one of fear, while the Mars Knight's face pleaded with Malachite to ignore the order. Her death would mean total heartbreak for both men, no matter how much they dispised each other. However, the Mars Knight was also concerned that the Sailor Scouts were taking such a long time to arrive.

"No! I will not!" shouted Malachite, standing up to defend Sailor Mars' body.  
"And if you want to kill him, you'll have to get through me as well!" Malachite seemed very puzzled yet aggrevated by the Mars Knight's threat to Beryl.  
"What the hell are you doing?!"  
"Look! I love her, you love her, we're in this together! We're both fighting for the same cause."  
"Get out of the way! She's mine! This is my battle!" Malachite barged the Mars Knight out of the way and onto the ground. Enough was enough for Beryl.  
"You've made your choice! I hope you rot in hell for betraying me!" Her screams drowned out all things audiable, more than able to pierce all but the strongest eardrums. Her hair rose and rose, the brewing tempest casting the bitter snowflakes into a rage as tempermental as her own. The sky darkened to a crude oily black, the clouds scarring the heavens. 

Malachite was bracing himself, but it was apparant to the Mars Knight that he didn't stand a chance just by the way Beryl was building up. This was gonna be catastrophic, and Malachite was going to bear the full brunt of it. Not only that, but Raye was also lying helpless on the ground behind him. He had no time to pull both of them out of the line of fire.  
"GIVE ME YOUR BEST SHOT!!!" Malachite was overconfident, the adrenaline defeating his senses of doubt and judgement. Nothing could stop him, or so he thought.  
"Fine! GOODBYE!" As Beryl's thundering voice resonated throughout the enclosement, a blinding green beam of energy emerged from her hands, a beam of energy intent for Malachite's heart. Malachite did nothing except reach his hands out ready to brace the impact. A wall of fire interrupted.

"Get her out of here now! I'll stop Beryl as long as I can!" The Mars Knight was increadibly tense as he continued to force his hands onto the ground to fuel the wall.  
"I want payback on Beryl dammit! She turned her back on me!" The Mars Knight tilted his head up towards Malachite, his pain and determination painted on his face.  
"You can come back for Beryl! Just put her somewhere safe! The others will be here in a moment, so make yourself scarse until I can explain the situation!" Malachite stood still. "JUST TAKE HER AWAY NOW YOU IDIOT! CAN'T I BE ANY MORE CLEARER THAN THAT?!" Nodding his head abruptly Malachite turned around and picked up Sailor Mars before running away into the woodlands.

"Hold it right now!" called a masculine voice to the Mars Knight's left. A voice belonging to Sailor Uranus.  
"About bloody time." whispered the Mars Knight to himself.  
"So the Sailor Senshi have finally arrived." said Diamond mockingly. "Not very punctual are we? Your friend here was a good five minutes quicker."  
"We're here now, and the inners will be here all too soon as well." said Sailor Neptune.  
"Well it would be a shame if they missed THIS!" The ground beneath the outer senshi exploded as they lept for their dear lives. Malachite and Sailor Mars were now out of sight, allowing the Mars Knight to lower his wall. Seeing the outer senshi leaping from an explosion he noticed that Wiseman and Diamond weren't particularly active. Seizing the advantage he took a chance.

**_"PHOENIX BOMB!!!"_** he cried as a bird of flames formed above him. Within a split second it dived straight into the unwitting pair, the intensity of the attack ripping a hole straight through Diamond's abdomen. Wiseman had also been severely hit, but as his General fell to his knees for the final time he raced back over to Beryl's side, enraged at the sneak attack.  
"Why you -!"  
"You snooze you lose Wiseman. If you had just been a little more active you would have seen -"  
**_"DEATH REBORN REVOLUTION!!!"  
"WORLD SHAKING!!!"  
"DEEP SUBMERGE!!!"  
"DEAD SCREAM!!!"_**

The four outers had interrupted the Mars Knight mid-sentance, with very good reason. With both enemies concentrating soley on the Mars Knight, the outers had a chance to cast their own surprise attacks. While orbs of catastrophe followed for the leaders as once again they were propelled back onto the floor.  
"You see what I mean?" With an almighty thud, Berly slammed her hand to the ground and pulled herself back onto her feet. Her face pure crimson, she spread out her hands and placed her arms in front of her.  
"Enough of your backchat! DIE!!!" With yet another scream she leat out a beam of purple energy, the beam thicker than before. the Mars Knight lept as quickly as he could to the side, but he was too late. He fell to the ground, the loss of energy from his left leg paralysing it. The coldness surged up to his lower waist; He realised he could no longer fight for the moment, hoping that the moment was a short one.  
"Are you alright Mars?" called Sailor Saturn, rushing over to his side.  
"Yeah. I can't feel my leg though." Quickly he turned over, facing towards the woodland. "Cover me. I'm getting out of here to recover. There's no way I can stand up, the energy's completely gone from my leg, and I need to rest before too many cells die away."  
"Gotcha." As quickly as he could, the Mars Knight used his arms to drag his body across the plain towards the woodland, the same woodland in which Malachite had hidden Sailor Mars.

Every moment was a struggle, using his arms and his only remaining leg to push himself along the bleak frozen field towards the shelter of the woodland, his armour rattling against stoned and twigs concealed beneath the blanket. Approaching the edge of the clearing he looked back; he was safe. The outers had distracted Beryl and Wiseman for long enough, and Diamond was certainly dead. As the terrain became more rugged he slid along the smoothest path he could find. Barely fifteen metres into the woodland though, and something caught his eye; the aurora of a white fuku, a bright crimson, short skirt attached.  
"Right..." Increasing his pace, the Mars Knight bulldozed his way towards the figure slumped against the tree.  
"What are you doing here?!" Another figure was slumped beside her, a figure precariously yet carefully holding the unconcious Sailor Mars' hand. Malachite.  
"Recovering."  
"That's no excuse! You should be out there fighting that heartless cow Beryl!" Raising his glasses from his head, the Mars Knight outstared Malachite, his humorously pained eyes slicing right through the former general.  
"Don't you think that's kinda hard at the moment, seeing as I'm suffering from the worst case of dead leg I've ever known?"  
"Let me guess. Energy drainer beam?" Dryly the Mars Knight nodded.  
"Got it in one." Wincing, the Mars Knight turned his attention to the removal of his gauntlets and leg armour, followed by the repeated rubbing of his leg. "Gotta get the blood circulating through this thing, or at least transfer some kinetic energy."

"Here. Let me help you with that." Malachite reached over and placed both hands on the Mars Knight's bare leg. Yet something didn't feel right. His hands were unusually hot, the heat slowly surging through his foot, circulating before spreading further to his lower calf.  
"What are you doing?!" He was startled by the sudden warmth invading his leg.  
"An energy boost. Just call it payback for helping me get Raye away earlier."  
"You really have changed. I though you would have killed me, not saved me." Malachite smirked with a slight aura of arrogance.  
"Under any other circumstance you would be dead by now. I've only spared you because I know you could be vital to beating Beryl, Wiseman and Diamond."  
"Well, there's no real need to think about Diamond anyway." Malachite turned towards the Mars Knight in confusion.  
"What do you mean?"  
"He's dead. We caught him off guard and seized the opportunity." Silence ensued, bar the trash talk of the battle whistling metres away. Eyes widening, Malachite paled.  
"Dead?" He wasn't sure whether to celebrate or grieve. True he was now on the side of the enemy, but it was Diamond that had helped Malachite to keep his love for Raye a secret from the high command. Diamond had been a very good friend, yet he had just said it himself. He wanted Diamond beaten alongside Beryl and Wiseman. In the end it didn't even matter.

"It's all true." Frozen for the moment, Malachite looked out towards the battlefield. The Mars Knight noticed this and realised that he may be grieving. "Are you all right?"   
Shaking his head briskly, Malachite instantly livened up and addressed the Mars Knight. A quick change of subject was in order.  
"Yes, I'm alright. Are you feeling any better?"  
"Yep, still a bit weak, but I'm getting there. Hows Sailor Mars?" Both men sighed with the upmost affection, their attention concentrated on the sleeping beauty that slumped against the bare tree.  
"Still unconcious. She's got a steady pulse and her temperature's allright. I'm just concerned that she may get very cold if we can't find anything to cover her up with." With his affection diluting his other senses, the Mars Knight slowly and delicately placed Sailor Mars' right hand in his own, the left hand already occupied by Malachite.  
"She looks like a true sleeping beauty here. It's just a shame that there's so much going on just a few metres away." He slowly caressed the back of her hand with his thumb, both Malachite and the battle seemingly a long way away.

"Indeed." Malachite turned towards the Mars Knight anxiously. "You know this will create a major problem if Beryl and Wiseman do lose, don't you?"  
"Yes. Who Raye will choose once this is all over." Nodding solemnly, Malachite turned his attention back to Sailor Mars.  
"No doubt it will be you because of your downright disgraceful brainwashing tactic." scoured the Mars Knight.  
"No. Not necessarily."  
"What do you mean?"  
"Once the main leaders of the Dark Kingdom fall, the rest of it crumbles by itself. Effectively, that means the beliefs she had under the Dark Kingdom will fade away."  
"So in effect, the spell will be broken?" Once again Malachite gave a sorrowed nod.  
"It's true. It'll all depend now on whether her feelings for me were true or just another part of the illusion." Grabbing onto a tree branch above, the Mars Knight climbed back to his feet.  
"Let's just cross that bridge we get to it. The inner Sailor Scouts should be here by now. We'll take her to the edge of the clearing so we can keep an eye on her." Slowly he bent down, placing his right arm around her back and placing her right arm over his shoulders. Holding her legs, Malachite lifted with the Mars Knight and slowly navigated the path out of the woodland.

The inners by this time had arrived and were fully engaged in battle. As Sailor Mercury delt another harsh Shine Aqua Illusion in unison with Sailor Jupiter's Sparkling Wide Pressure, Sailor Saturn and Sailor Venus were dragging themselves back onto their feet after what seemed to be a previous attack by the two lone leaders.  
"Sailor Moon!" The two men were instantly welcomed with a hostile reception as they returned from the woodland with the limp, lifeless body of Sailor Mars.  
"Mars! Is she alright?" immediately she noticed the second pair of hands cradling Sailor Mars. "What's he doing with you?!"  
"He's on our side. Beryl's double-crossed him." Pointing at a tree on the edge of the clearing with his eyes, he and Malachite laid Sailor Mars to rest against the tree.  
"This is a trick, isn't it?"

"I'll explain. Beryl wants Sailor Mars dead since she has no use for the Dark Kingdom after this battle. When Beryl knocked her out and ordered me to kill her I just grabbed her and ran for the woods to hide." He seemed compassionate enough, seemingly panicky as he glanced at Beyl and Wiseman, anticipating any attacks.  
"And why should I believe you?"  
"Because I saw it myself." called the Mars Knight from by Sailor Mars' side. "He protected her because he cares for her. That's why Beryl's in such a rage now." An uneasy look spread across Sailor Moon's face. True she had accepted defected enemies in the past, but this was the same guy that started the Sailor Mars crisis in the first place.  
"Okay, just keep Sailor Mars safe until she comes around." The Mars Knight nodded with relief.  
"You take care of her for the moment." said Malachite. "I've got some unfinished business to do."

Immediately he took off, flanking the fairly isolated pair. The Mars Knight followed Malachite's request, dashing over towards Sailor Mars and erected another firewall, a semi-circle of fire enclosing the pair from the battle.  
"Just the two of us now..." The Mars Knight spoke solemnly, Sailor Mars' serenity captivated his soul yet. She was unconscious, yet she looked somewhere between peaceful and painful. Slowly he walked towards her and knelt down. "Look what they've done to you. You look all troubled..." He reached out and placed her hand in his, her warmth lifting away some of the Mars Knight's troubles. Yet it was a one-way converstion. He wasn't sure if she knew he was even there, nor did he know what her reaction would be when she finally would come around. Would she still be under Malachite's spell even after the final battle was over or would she realise what she had actually done and return to the him? 

The anxiety caused small tears to form in his eyes. Tears of sadness, tears of hope, tears of frustration.  
"You don't know how much I've missed you. You don't know how hard these couple of months have been for your friends and me..." As he winced and inhailed a very deep breath in an attaemt to control his emotions, a single teardrop escaped, rolling down his pale cheek down to his chin. Like a single drop of rain from a cloud above, the tear plummeted from his face, landing on the pure white gloved hand in his own.  
"Ah look at me now." he groaned. " I'm starting to get too emotional again..." His lips quivering, his hands shaking, he struggled to find his words, lest three. "I love you."

Bar the ruckus from the other side of the wall, not a word was spoken. Second by second all the Mars Knight could do was gaze at her seemingly sealed eyes, praying for her to at least do some sort of action.  
"mmmmm..." groaned Sailor Mars, a groan that was barely audiable, yet it was a groan that the Mars Knight picked up on.  
"Raye! Can you hear me?" He moved closer to her face, listening out for anything she might have been trying to say. "Please! Just do anything if you can hear me!" The reaction was instantaneous, a small squeeze of his hand by Sailor Mars. This was the news he needed so badly, Sailor Mars was alive and quite possibly out of the spell. He couldn't be certain about the latter, but his tears of sadness had transformed to tears of joy as he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her gently.

* * *

On the outside, however, the battle was almost evenly matched despite Beryl and Wiseman being severely outnumbered. The other Knights had still not arrived, several of the senshi had taken a beating and Malachite was picking himself up after being violently blasted to the ground.  
"Is that all you've got Beryl?!"  
"Of course not! I'm just getting started!" Wave after wave of beams emerged, most hitting Malachite directly in the chest. His blood curdling scream chilled the other Senshi, pausing to see what was happening to Malachite after lauching a group attack on Wiseman.  
**_"VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!!!"_** cried Sailor Venus, launching a golden chain of hearts to stop the attack on Malachite. It worked.  
"Right! Payback!" He screamed, forcing himself onto his feet and launching his own violet beam at Beryl. Seeing this she countered with a beam of her own, but it was too late, she did not have the strength to counter and was hit on the arm.

"Dammit!" Malachite seemed surprised that his beam had failed to hit her full-on, instead only wounding her arm. He cursed his luck, but was determined to try again. But that did not matter.  
**_"OUTER SOLESTIAL STRIKE!!!"_** An enormous ball of purple and turquoise energy flashed past the Sailor Senshi, striking Beryl in the chest, sending her crashing to the floor. A second silver and black ball smashed Wiseman into a nearby tree. Confusion reigned as the Sailor Senshi scanned for the source of the attack. The culprits emerged from the trees behind.

Eight people, all draped in armour identical to the Mars Knight's, bar the colours. Arranged in an arrow formation, at the front stood a young woman with long blonde, platted hair dressed in golden armour glistening despite the black sky above. Behind, cascading out from the woman at the front, stood the other seven, the only gap being on the left directly her, presumably where the Mars Knight would have stood.  
"Sailor Moon. It is an honour to meet you." said the woman at the front in less-than-perfect Japanese. Sailor Moon walked towards the woman cautiously.  
"The pleasure's all mine. You must be the Knights from England." replied Sailor Moon, anxiously glancing to the side, awaiting Beryl and Wiseman's next strike.  
"He's over there!" called the Knight in the ocean blue armour, pointing towards the column of fire  
"Wait." said Sailor Moon. "You can't ask him to come out of there. He's protecting Sailor Mars. As long as that wall's up they're safe."  
"Ok." Swiftly the Moonlight Knight turned around to address the other Knights. "Okay, let's hit them as hard as we can as quickly as they can. We all know that the enemy can have any number of nasty tricks up their sleeves, so the sooner they're down the better." All Knights nodded in unison. "Also, someone keep watch for Mars and Sailor Mars. When he does lower that wall, prepare for Galactical Knight Strike. Now let's get out there!"

The eight dispersed immediately, some joining the Sailor Senshi, some attempting to get around the back of the enemies, while the Mercury Knight rushed over to the raging firewall.  
"Mark, are you in there?" called a voice in english. The Mars Knight instantly recognised the voice.  
"Ben! About bloody time you lot got here!"  
"Anna sent me here to check on you. You alright?"  
"Yeah, I'm okay. I can't let you in though, Sailor Mars is about to come around, so I need to protect her."  
"Look, just don't take too long about it. We're gonna try and finish this with a GKS before they trick us."  
"Wow. We're actually gonna do a GKS?" His arm stil around Raye, he leant closer to the firewall and the Mercury Knight.  
"You heard me. As soon as you're ready we're doing a GKS. We're hoping to time it alongside a Planet attack so they can be finished off by without the Silver Imperium Crystal. If we do have to use it..." The Mars Knight interrupted.  
"I know. Either Sailor Moon dies because of the crystal's heat or her hands are scarred for life. Plus Tokyo is destroyed should it all go wrong." He paused. "I'll be out as soon as I can. It all depends on when Sailor Mars is in a situation to fend for herself."  
"OK, I understand. I'm staying here to warn you though." 

Again the Mars Knight was interrupted, but this time not by speech. Sailor Mars was beginning to turn her head, slowly but surely.  
"Come on Raye... Just open your eyes... For everyone's sake..." He spoke softly and encouragingly. For the past few moment Raye had been lingering somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness, and the Mars Knight was determined to bring her to life. Slowly her lips began to move, opening by a matter of millimetres before once again closing.  
"Come on, you can do it. For Serena, for me..." pausing, he smiled with an aura of victory. "For Amy. This is her wedding day after all." It was working. Her eyelids were now trembling, her determination trickling onto her face. This could be the moment the Mars Knight had been waiting for.  
"You can do it! Just open your eyes!" It was as ifher eyelids were glued shut, yet she did not give up. Squeezing the Mars Knight's bare hand with all her might, she began to shake violently.  
"Raye! No!" he shouted as he began to panic. He grabbed her wrist, her pulse was racing. To the Mars Knight it looked like she was about to go into shock.  
"Don't do this to me!" he shouted, laying her flat on the ground, her quaking serioulsy alarming him. He moved closer to check her breathing, placing his face within centimetres of her own, ready to fear the worst.  
"MARK!" The Mars Knight jolted his head back in surprise as Sailor Mars' eyes shot open, screaming his name with an almighty gasp for air. Instantaneously the shaking stopped, Sailor Mars gasping for as much air as her lungs could take.

"I don't believe it! You're alive!" Once again tears formed under the metallic glasses, his normally easily controlled emotions bursting out once again. "You did it!"  
"Mark!" Her voice quivered with uncertainty, the uncertainty of where she was and what she had just been through, yet a feeling of ecstacy was surging through her veins. She seemed pleased to see the Marss Knight once again. To him, the spell was broken. As he leant over her, she rasied her arms, wrapping one around his cold chest armour and the other behind his head, she dragged him in towards her before finally pushing his tender lips against her own.  
"Mark, I hate to interrupt your moment of passion, but I think we'd better strike now! Beryl's about to call on a new power!" Instantly Mark broke the kiss. Caressing her cheek he quickly lifted his head away from hers.  
"Dammit!" he said, looking out towards the battle scene before turning back to Sailor Mars. "I'll be right back. We're all in the middle of the final battle and we're about to try and win it." As he made his way onto his feet, Sailor Mars pushed her hand against the ground to try and drag herself up. It was futile; she didn't have enough energy.  
"I've... gotta... help..."  
"Look, stay where you are. You're safe behind this firewall. You're not well enough to fight." With one final kiss, the Mars Knight lowered the firewall, stepped out of the enclosement and raised the wall once more before following the Marcury Knight to the battlefield.

"Are you sure this will work without Sailor Mars?" On the battlefield the Moonlight Knight enquired with Sailor Moon over the effect of the planet attack.  
"It won't be as powerful, but if your attack is strong enough it may be enough to win it. Although-"   
"Arrgh!!!" Interrupted once more, the two Senshi alongside the other fifteen turned to face Beryl. "You may outnumber us, you may be more powerful than myself and Wiseman, but you will be no match for Empress Metallia!" She jolted her head back, ready to scream an adrenaline-fuelled cry. "Tomoe! Release Metallia and make us one!!!"

* * *

_Int. Laboratory 1, Negaverse Command Centre - 25th December 2002, 3:26 pm._

Alarms throughout the complex roared away at Beryl's scream, the lab now lit by a series of flashing green lights. At the control panel stood Professor Tomoe, ready to press the button to release Metallia, the large green button directly in the centre of the rows and rows of smaller buttons.  
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen!" His voice echoed in the empty lab, no-one could hear him lest himself. "In the red corner we have one poor pathetic excuse for an evil Empress, Metallia!" Mockingly he pointed at the giant glass tank before him. "And in the blue corner, a genius, back-stabbing, double-crossing scientist extrodinaire who is about to claim victory for himself, Professor Tomoe!" he shouted. However, instead of pressing the button in front of him he opted for a red button in the bottom corner, a red button with a label above reading _'Complete Energy Drain.'_

"Let's get it on!" As he manically laughed away he pressed the button. The energy being leeched from Metallia was immense, huge balls of dark energy escaping from a tube above.  
"What the..." Something wasn't right. The water was bubbling at an increadible rate. Metalia was as good as dead, but the energy in her was too great to completely remove at once.  
"Oh no..." Cautiously he stepped back, but it was too late. In an spectacular explosion the tank shattered, many pieces embedding themselves in many parts of Tomoe, severing many of his major Arteries.  
"TOMOE! WHERE IS METALLIA?!" The sound was beginning to fade, but with one last motion Tomoe reached up for a communicator and dropped it besidehis mouth. His blood loss was spectacular, and as his body began to run dry, he uttered one final sentance.

"Congratulations, you've been screwed..."

* * *

"NO!!!" Beryl was at her wits end. Her only chance of victory was now gone. Metallia was dead, Tomoe and Malachite had betrayed her, her plans falling apart.  
"If you want to kill me, I will go down with the mother of all fights and I shall go down a martyr!!!" By now the Sailor Senshi and the Knights were all in position, Malachite stood between the two packs.  
"This is the end Beryl! GOODBYE AND GOOD RIDDANCE!" Malachite ran forward, firing a beam from each hand at Wiseman and Beryl. One direct hit by Beryl's frustration and Wiseman's incompetance, and the pair were stunned and ready to meet their makers. "NOW! DO IT!"  
**_"SAILOR SENSHI PLANET ATTACK!!!"  
"GALACTICAL KNIGHT STRIKE!!!"_** The sky changed once more. The black faded away, to be replaced by a psychadelic-coloured flashing sky. From the air cyclones formed, cyclones of energy from which the Senshi powered up. As each of the Senshi became more and more powerful they began to glow with their respective colour, until their light was almost blinding.  
**_"NOW!!!"_** cried Sailor Moon and the Moonlight Knight simaltaneously. The earth below them violently trembled as each glow channeled away to their respective leader. It took a matter of seconds, but to all parties involved it seemed like a complete lifetime. For Beryl and Wiseman this was the end, but there was one last chance for redemption - the firewall surrounding Sailor Mars had faded away.

"Goodbye Beryl." Sailor Moon spoke softly, but her voice echoed, haunting the evil pair. Two multicoloured, blindingly bright spheres had formed above each set of Senshi, two spheres that raced off towards the duo. But something wasn't right. Beryl had her hand out to her side, the side of Sailor Mars.  
"RAYE!!!" ducking under the enormous spheres, Malachite tried to outrun the energy beam now firing from Beryl's hand, but it was no use. He could not get her out of the way in time. There was only one option left. Placing all the energy he had left in his legs, Malachite stretched out his arms and dived in the path of the beam, hoping his sacrifice would save the one he loved.

Time was up. A superbly pure white column rose where Beryl and Wiseman were standing, the Senshi running away just to escape the heat. The roaring of the magic was ear-shattering, the windows of nearby buildings obliterated with the pure force of the sound. Yet in seconds it was all over. Silence. It was like a nuclear bomb had just exploded, only without the immense loss of human life. Solemnly and slowly all senshi returned to the scene.  
"That's it. They're gone." Said Sailor Jupiter.  
"Two vast piles of ashes in the middle of the clearing." replied the Saturn Knight. "I'd say so too."   
Bursting through the crowd as quick as he could, the Mars Knight returned, only to find no firewall.  
"WHERE IS SHE?!" Fearing the worst, he frantically scanned the surrounding. A red fuku could be seen behind a tree. Runing until his lungs would burst, he raced back towards Sailor Mars, propped against a tree branch and on her own two feet.

"Heh... Now that was something..."  
"Goddamn!" A mouth as wide as the Thames river, the Mars Knight swept Sailor Mars off her feet and carried her out of the woods, his laughter of pure bliss uncontrollable.  
"Good to see you too Mark." As they both emerged from the woods, the Mars Knight's bliss disappeared in an instant.  
"Oh no... Don't tell me..." Placing Sailor Mars back on her feet, he slowly paced towards the body on the floor. "Malachite..." A hole through his chest, directly where his heart was, there was no way he could be alive. Slowly the Mars Knight knelt down, moving Malachite's arms so the hands were on top of the breastbone, and closed Malachite's eyes for the final time. This was saddening to see. He was bitter enemies with Malachite up until twenty minutes previous, yet in the end had something in common with him, the love of Raye and the will to fight for love and justice.

"Thank you Malachite." Standing up, the Mars Knight saluted the body before turning and walking away arm in arm with Raye, away to reflect upon the events of the day, and away to celebrate the marriage of Amy and Greg.

* * *

"Well, that was certainly tough one."  
Late evening over Tokyo. The sky was as pich black as the preceding battle, only this time punctuated by a vast array of glistening stars. Inside the vast marquee the joyful friends and families of the new happy couple partied away. All apart from Raye and Mark, relaxing on a blanket outside, a bottle of champagne and two glasses 'borrowed' from the procedings indoors. Both wearing thickly insulated jackets to protect themselves from the bitter cold, there was only one topic of conversation to be spoken about.  
"I wouldn't know. I spent the majority of the time unconscious and sprawled out." Raye laughed at her own plight.  
"Ah you didn't miss much. Beryl and Wiseman didn't really last that long according to the guys." Raye looked at him in disbelief. "Tomoe stitched them up big time. He killed Metallia."  
"I don't believe it..."  
"It's true. It just begs the question now as to where Tomoe is." Mark took a smalll sip from his champagne flute.  
"He's probably gone into hiding waiting to strike another day." Hoding onto Mark more tightly, she became uneasy. "By the way, why did you salute Malachite in the end? I though he was the enemy."

"He was for a while. He had kidnapped you, brainwashed you and used you as a pawn in the Dark Kingdom's plans, but he loved you though, or so he claimed. Beryl wanted to execute you during that battle. She gave Malachite the order and her refused. Not only that, but he defected to our side" Again Mark paused for thought. "When we launched the GKS and the Planet attack, it turns out my firewall had faded and you were exposed. Beryl tried to have one last potshot at you, but he lept in front of the beam. He died for you and he died in the name of the Moon. That's definately worth the respect of everyone who fought. I most definately won't forget him, despite what he originally did." Raye was silent. She was stunned. An enemy had not only shown love for her, but had also died for her. She wasn't sure what to say, but for fear of becoming too emotional and destroying her typical hard-nosed image, she immediately changed topic.

"Well, talk about a shock. Did you see Serena's face earlier?" Mark giggled as Raye returned a smile to her face.  
"Bah, I knew it was coming all along. He told me about it last month."  
"Yeah right." Raye playfully tapped Mark on the cheek. "Hey! No need to do that!" he chortled. "Anyway, it's good to know there's gonna be another wedding soon. Serena and Darien make the perfect couple." An angry glare emerged in Raye's eyes, only to instantly crumble into more laughter.  
"Aren't you forgetting someone Mark?"  
"Woah, waaaay too early for us yet. I think one wedding per year's enough."  
"Come on Mark!" Pleaded Raye. "I wanna love you! Marry you! Have your kids! Put my evil plan to take over the world into action with you by my side!" Laughter filled the air, becomming almost uncontrollable for the pair.  
"Look, I'll see if I can fit a date into my _very_ busy diary sometime during 2004, okay?"  
"Ah suit yourself." Mark, realising his glass was empty, reached for the champagne bottle and filled up his glass.

"Hey, top mine up too!"  
"No no no, you're drunk enough already. I can't have you drinking any more of this stuff, it's bad for you." said Mark, waving the thick green bottle around in a drunkardly fashion, his speech slightly slurred.  
"Fine. I'll just have to do this then!" Squeals of laughter echoed through the vast urban plain as Raye grabbed the bottle from Mark and placed it on the ground. Mark was now lying flat on his back, Raye kneeling over him at the side.  
"Look at that!" said Mark, pointing to the sky, an action which prompted Raye to sharply turn her head upwards. To the sky a streak of light from a lone shooting star trailed across from east to west before finally burning out.  
"Hope you made a wish Mark."  
"Oh believe me, I sure did." That very moment Raye brought herself to the ground beside him, one arm across his chest, her head beside his, turning slowly to meet his lips.

* * *

All in all, this had been the most turbulant three months of his life. He had expected life in Japan to be somewhat different from life at home, but never in his wildest dreams did he expect to find the woman of his destiny so quickly, nor did he expect to become embroyled in a major battle for the protection of Earth and the heart of his love, yet it goes to prove that anything is at all possible. In his mind he knows he's here to stay, and is ready to face whatever challenge the future may hold.

Yet the most important thing to come from this experience is something everyone can appreciate. The powers of friendship, love, care, joy, happiness, all the things that seem insignificant yet can lighten even the most downhearted and depressed of people. As strange as it sometimes seems, it's all the small things in life that matter the most.

* * *

**_The End._**

_Well, that's it. That's the end of it all. So now for all my personal messages to those who have helped me write this story._

_Firstly to Naoko Takeuchi. Without her there would be no Sailor Moon to begin with. There would be no magnificent anime series, no mangas, no music, and most importantly, no Sailor Moon fanfictions!_

_Secondly to Princess Ren, Fanfiction Fanatic, Pyro*Chic, Lost-Lil-Gurl and Rose of Osiris for avidly reading this and providing all the wonderful feedback._

_And finally, to you, yes you who is reading this sentance. Thank you for reading such a long-winded fanfiction and I seriously hoped you enjoyed every single moment of this :)._

_Well, that's all for now. I will now take a break before possibly returning in 2004 with a new fic. Until then, see you around! It's 2:30am and I need sleep! :P_


End file.
